Under the Sky So Blue
by Holyknightsteve
Summary: A member of Vyse's crew has been struck down by Valuans-turned-Black Pirates 1 year after the final battle against Ramirez took place. Vyse has vowed revenge against the former Valuans that killed his friend. VyseXFina, some GilderXClara. Complete!
1. Tragedy

Disclaimer: I do not own Skies of Arcadia, Vyse, Fina, Aika, or any other characters found within said game. Any characters in this story not located within said game are of my own creation and I claim ownership to them.

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Chapter 1: Tragedy

"This sucks. I got gypped," Aika mumbled to herself as she was looking out the starboard window from the bridge of her small, treasure-hunting ship the "Top Cat". "I shoulda known better than to trust that crusty old man." She crumpled up the worthless map she bought from said old man, opened the window, and tossed it overboard. She smiled as she watched it fall into Deep Sky, wishing she could do the same to the old man that ripped her off. "Heh… oh well. Live and learn I guess." She turned to her helmsman, Juan, a former Valuan trooper. "Juan, set a course for Crescent Isle. That's enough work for one day." Juan nodded. "With pleasure, ma'am." With that, he gave the wheel a hard turn to the left and set a path for home.

Aika kicked back in her chair and propped her legs up on a nearby table. "Hmph. Wonder what Vyse and everybody else have been up to today? Hopefully they've had more fun than I had tod—"

She was cut off abruptly by the sound of cannon-fire. She jumped up immediately. "What in the heck was that?! Is someone attacking us?!" A nervous man walked into the bridge. "Ma'am! You're not going to believe this, but there's a Valuan battleship flying Pirate colors of the port side!"  
Aika stood there stunned for a moment. "I… battle-stations everyone! Whoever it is, they don't stand a chance against us!" The nervous man and several men below the bridge could be heard yelling "Aye, aye!" and the sound of running around could be heard.

"Juan, I'll take the wheel! Stay on observation duty up here," she said to the helmsman. He nodded and stepped aside, running to the main window of the bridge to keep as close of an eye on the enemy ship as possible.

Juan blinked. "Ma'am, it looks like they're going for an all-out attack. They're heading straight toward us!" Aika didn't seem to care much as she said, "Keep your cool, Juan. Their captain is probably just some wannabe Black Pirate with a level of competence equal to that of that moron Alfonso. I'll bet he --…"

She was cut off again as a well-aimed volley of cannon-fire struck her own ship, making an impressive hole in the hull. The men below deck didn't stand a chance. Those that weren't killed immediately by the cannon-fire fell through the hole, screaming as they plummeted towards Deep Sky. To top it off, the engine was not only damaged but also fell out of the same hole that the men fell through. The Top Cat was now completely defense-less.

It was over. Aika knew it and stared in fear at the attacking ship. "Oh crap… I'm sorry Juan…" That was the last sentence she ever finished. A torpedo that was launched along with the volley of cannon-fire found it's mark: the bridge. After the explosion, the remains of the Top Cat fell towards a nearby island and crashed.

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"Damnit, where is she? She's been missing for 2 days! It's not like her to be gone this long!" Vyse said, obviously worried about his missing friend, Aika. The Silvite, Fina, walked up to Vyse and put her delicate hand on his shoulder. "Don't worry Vyse. I'm sure Aika is ok. Who knows? Maybe she found a really big treasure." Vyse eased up a little at the sound of Fina's voice. "Yeah… I suppose you're right. Aika can take care of herself. Thanks Fi--."

Vyse was interrupted by Domingo, Crescent Isle's current observer. "Vyse! There's an emergency! Gilder's ship, the "Claudia", is pulling along the side of the island, but he's towing the wreckage of a ship!" Vyse shot back, "What? Who's ship is it?" Domingo paused a moment. A small sigh could be heard. "Vyse, it's… it's the Top Cat." Vyse's eyes shot completely open. Without saying a word, he left the meeting room and ran to meet Gilder to find out what happened. Fina followed close behind him.

Gilder was helping him men with the process of trying to tie the wreckage to the island. Vyse ran up to him and started yelling hysterically, "Gilder! Gilder, where's Aika!? Is she okay?!" Gilder heard Vyse, but didn't want to turn around. He didn't want to break the news to Vyse, but he knew he had to. "Vyse… she's… dead."

Vyse could've died at that moment. It couldn't be true… it just couldn't be. His worst fears were confirmed when he saw 2 of Gilder's men carrying a stretcher off the Claudia. He ran over to them and pulled the sheet that was hiding the body on the stretcher. It was her… Aika. She'd been cleaned up a bit by Gilder's crew, but she still had several mortal-looking wounds on key-points on her body. Tears in his eyes, he took his rugged hand and stroked her soft, undamaged cheek.

"Aika… please wake up… please… I beg you…" He knew it was pointless. She was dead, but he didn't want to believe it. He finally broke down and fell to the ground, pounding it with both fists as the tears fell freely to the soil of Crescent Isle. Fina had been watching the whole ordeal and once Vyse fell to his knees, she walked over to Aika… and the tears started streaming down her cheek as well. She leaned down and hugged the body of Aika, not wanting to let go of her dear friend. She did eventually and fell to both knees, hugging Vyse as she did so.

A tear fell from Gilder's eye as well. He felt so powerless. So terrible. He knew there was nothing he could do other than bring Aika's body back to Crescent Isle for a proper burial. He wiped the tear away and began to speak. "Vyse, there was one survivor. He saw what happened."

Another stretcher was brought off the Claudia, this one holding a badly wounded but alive man. It was Juan, Aika's helmsman. Vyse looked up a moment at Gilder through his watery eyes. "I-is that him?" Gilder nodded. "Yes, but he's badly injured. If you're going to question him, go easy on him."

Fina looked up. She knew Vyse was too grief-stricken to care about something like that. "Wait Vyse. I'll do it. W-wait here." She slowly stood up and Vyse watched her as she walked over to the wounded man. As she did so, Gilder knelt down next to Vyse.

"Vyse, I'm so sorry. I was out on a treasure hunt when I saw the wreckage of the Top Cat on a small island not too far from Nasr. Any valuables that were still inside after the crash must've been looted. All I found was Aika and her helmsman, Juan. She… was already dead when I got there. Juan was barely alive. We took them aboard the ship and attached a tow hook to her own ship. I don't have any idea what happened. I guess that's what Juan is telling Fina now."

Vyse didn't say a word. The island was as quiet as death. Only the inaudible whispers of Fina and Juan could be heard. Finally, they saw Fina nod and stand up. She walked over to Vyse and Gilder and began to speak.

"He says they were attacked by a Valuan battleship flying Black Pirate colors. Their leader and crew must've been highly skilled as the ship was… brought down by the first volley of cannon-fire. A torpedo that hit the bridge was what killed Aika and nearly killed Juan." She stopped and began to sob again.

Vyse gritted his teeth and an unseen fire burned in his eyes. "Valuans turned Pirates… these are the fiends that killed my friend?! ARGH!!!" He pounded the ground furiously. After a moment of doing so, he stood up with a very serious look on his face, tears still clouding his vision. "I'll kill them all! No one that blood-thirsty deserves to live!" He looked at the body of his dead friend. His voice lowered almost to a whisper as he turned to his recently re-hired helmsman Lawrence. "We leave tomorrow morning. See to it that all active crew members are prepared to go by day-break. Also, make sure that Juan is given proper medical attention."

Lawrence nodded slowly. "As you wish Captain Vyse. Any other orders?" Vyse lowered his head a moment and looked back to Aika. "Go among the inactive crew members… see if we can't get any volunteers to help bury Aika by nightfall." Lawrence nodded again. "Aye, aye, Captain Vyse." He walked off slowly and headed off to crew's barracks.

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The funeral that night was silent. Aika was given an elaborate grave right next to Gonzales, the dead man Vyse found on the island when he crash-landed here over a year ago. All of both active and inactive crew members assisted in the burial of Vyse's vice-captain. Small speeches were made by Vyse, Fina, and Gilder before Aika's coffin was lowered into the hole. After a short prayer, Aika's grave was covered up and the crew returned to their respective quarters. A short while later, Gilder returned to the Claudia with his crew. Vyse and Fina, however, stood in front of the grave, embracing each other as they wept. An hour later, they finally called up enough strength to leave the grave and retire to their quarters. Tomorrow was going to be a busy day. They would need all the rest they could get.

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So whatcha think? Not bad? Please R&R! Next chapter coming soon!


	2. Dawn of Vengeance

Chapter 2: Dawn of Vengeance

The sun had not shed one single ray of light over the horizon yet, but that did not deter the Blue Rogues of Crescent Island from preparing for their coming journey. Along with help from the crew of the Claudia, the Blue Rogues were loading up any supplies they needed from moonstones to ammunition. They were taking special care in being quiet. Vyse and Gilder did not want to wake Fina… for a good reason. The two spoke as they oversaw the loading and preparation of the Delphinus.

Without looking at him, Vyse said to Gilder, "I really appreciate your help Gilder. I owe you so much already and yet…"

Gilder waved his hand. "Don't worry 'bout it Vyse. Not like you haven't helped me in a pinch before. Besides…" He drew one of his War Eagles (A/N: My name for the guns he uses in "Gunslinger". They look like a mix between a Desert Eagle and a Ruger Warhawk) and spun it in a fancy manner before re-holstering it. "Aika was a friend of mine as well. 'least I can do is get back at the scumbags that… killed her." He gripped the handles of both of his holstered pistols tightly.

Vyse lowered his head for a moment and spoke in a whisper to himself. "Aika, I promise I'll avenge you. They won't get away with this."

Gilder looked at Vyse, his hands easing off of the pistols. "Are you sure about leaving Fina behind? I don't think she'd approve."

Vyse folded his arms and looked upward at a crane that was loading a crate onto the deck of their ship. "I know she wouldn't, but I don't care. I've already lost Aika. I don't want to lose Fina too. She means too much to me."

Gilder nodded and turned back to the ship. "I suppose you're right. No need to put her in harm's way."

"You two should be ashamed of yourselves! You could at least say goodbye to the poor girl!" cried out a feminine voice from behind them.

Vyse and Gilder spun around to see Clara accompanied by Lawrence. She wore the same pink dress as always but was wearing a saber on her side as well as a heavy looking vest as well. She was tapping her boots impatiently as she stared at the two men with a disapproving look.

Lawrence bowed slightly. "Pardon me Captain Vyse, but Lady Clara wishes to speak with both you and Captain Gilder."

Vyse heard Gilder mutter something under his breath as he himself nodded to Lawrence. "Understood. Continue with the preparations."

Lawrence bowed again. "Aye aye, captain." He walked in the direction of the stairs that led to the bottom floor of the hangar.

Before either of the men could say anything, Clara began to speak. "Listen guys… I heard about what happened to Aika from Lawrence. I'm so sorry." She looked down for a moment. A tear fell from her eye and hit the cold, steel grating that they were all standing on. She looked up again. "I'm here to help. That poor girl was my friend too."

Gilder made several meaningless motions with his hands. "But Clara, we can't –"

Clara cut him off. "I don't care. I'm not going to take no for an answer. My crew will stay behind with the Primrose and assist the Claudia's crew in defending the island while we're gone. Is that clear?"

Vyse said nothing. Gilder shrugged. "Stubborn girl. I guess we have no choice. I trust that you will be able to defend yourself?"

Clara gave Gilder a cold stare. "Of course I am! I'm a Blue Rogue too, you know!" Having said that, she tapped the saber on her side.

Vyse looked puzzled. "Just a saber? Will that be enough?"

Clara gave a small grin despite the tears that were still falling from her eyes. "Yes… if combined with these." She opened up the heavy vest and inside were 12 straps, all filled with throwing knives. Patched onto the inside of the vest itself were small, contoured plates of armor, made to perfectly fit her.

Vyse and Gilder's jaws dropped. Heck. It seemed that she was more prepared than they were.

Vyse coughed. "Ahem, well then, uhh… I suppose you'll be able to defend yourself. Right Gilder?"

Gilder sighed. "Right."

Clara wiped away the tears. "Thank you. Now about Fina…"

Vyse looked at her, puzzled once more. "What about Fina? I don't want her to get hurt, so I'm leaving her behind."

Clara put one hand on her hip as she tapped her boots again. "Shame on you! I'm sure she would want to come along despite all the danger she might face. At the _very_ least, you should go say goodbye to her."

Gilder broke in. "Clara, we've already left Fina a letter detailing what we're going to do and why she can't come. She'll have to understand."

Clara looked upset with their answer. "But that doesn't mean-"

Clara was cut off by another girl's voice: Fina's. "Vyse! I'm ready to go!"

Everyone turned quickly to see that Fina was indeed ready to go. She wore the same silver and white dress as always but, instead of her normal veil, she wore a bandanna with the Blue Rogue's logo on it. Cupil was floating around her as usual.

Vyse's eyes shot wide open. "Fina! What are you doing up this early!?"

Fina produced a letter in her hand… the letter that Vyse and Gilder had written to her. "I'm going with you. You and Aika were my best friends. I'm going to do whatever it takes to help you Vyse."

Gilder had to interject. "Fina, please understand. We just don't want you hurt. You saw what they did to Aika."

Vyse nodded in agreement. "That's right. I've already lost one close friend. I don't want to lose another-gah!" Vyse was cut-off when Clara started dragging off him off by his collar.

Clara glanced over to Fina and flashed a warm-smile. "Just a minute honey! I forgot to tell Vyse something!" Having said that, she dragged Vyse around a nearby corner and gave him a very evil looking stare.

"What are you doing Vyse?!" she asked in a fairly mad-sounding voice.

Vyse straightened his collar. "It's like I said before, I don't want Fina hurt… or, even worse, killed."

Clara cooled down. She put her hand on Vyse's left shoulder. "Listen Vyse; just let her come with us. Think about it… you're the only family she has left. All the Silvite Elders are dead and Aika just perished as well… you're the closest person she has in her entire, lonely world. Did you see the look in her eyes Vyse?"

Vyse looked down. Clara was right. Vyse was her best friend. Since he took her in as if she was a sister, he was truly like family to her. She thought about the look in Fina's eyes from just a moment ago. She looked as if her entire world was falling apart. Yet, she wasn't going to surrender. She was willing to fight for what she holds dear… just as he always did.

Vyse looked at Clara. "Yeah… I did notice. She seems so sad, yet, determined as well."

Clara spread her arms. "Then why not let her come along? If you die, she'll have nothing left. And besides…" She looked up, a bit of a sly smile on her face.

Vyse looked at her, a bit perplexed. "Besides what, Clara?"

Clara looked back at him again. "Oh nothing. Anyway, just let her come along. Even if you don't like the idea now, I'm sure you both will appreciate the decision later on. If you're _really_ worried about her, why don't you just promise to protect her?" She held up her right hand. "Blue Rogue's honor, right?"

Vyse nodded slowly. "All right. She can come along. I swear I'll protect her." He clenched his right fist and followed Clara back to where Gilder and Fina were standing.

Fina gave Vyse a concerned look. "Vyse, please let-"

"I'm sorry about before Fina," Vyse said, interrupting her. "I was just worried about you. I don't want to lose my other best friend, y'know? Anyway, I'd be honored if you joined us in searching for Aika's murderers."

Fina wiped a few tears as she smiled. "Thank you Vyse. I swear I'll do my best to help you out and not become a burden."

They drew closer together and embraced each other for a moment, both happy that they were able to come to an agreement. Clara nudged Gilder, who merely rolled his eyes with a smirk. Vyse and Fina drew apart once more.

"Oh Vyse… I found a way to let our memories of Aika aid us in battle."  
Fina called Cupil forward and she whispered something in its ear.

It gave what appeared to be a nod. "Cuuuu…" Cupil's shape changed around quite a bit and, once he was done morphing, turned into a weapon that they thought they'd never see again: a boomerang.

Fina grasped the Cupilrang in one hand. "This is in loving memory of Aika. Whenever I use this, I'm sure Aika will be watching over me."

Everyone paused for a moment of silence. Afterwards, they joined hands at the middle and uttered a short prayer.

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Preparations were complete. The 4 adventurers stood on the deck of the ship with the rest of the active crew as Vyse was issuing final orders to those who were staying behind. As Vyse turned around to head for the bridge, he heard odd footsteps coming up the ramp. He turned around to see Juan, Aika's injured vice-captain, make his way up the ramp on crutches.

"Captain Vyse, I'm coming too. I don't know how much hope I'll be in this state, but I'll do anything it takes to avenge Miss Aika."

Vyse was prepared to give Juan a negative response when Gilder tapped him on the shoulder. Vyse turned back to Gilder who only shook his head. Vyse wasn't thrilled about the idea, but perhaps Gilder was right.

"Very well vice-captain, but you will remain in bed until I tell you otherwise. Agreed?" Vyse asked, extending a helping hand to Juan.

Juan nodded in approval and allowed Vyse to help him up the ramp. Once up, the crew waved to all those who were staying behind and then made their way to the bridge. Vyse sat in the captain's chair as Clara, Gilder, and Fina sat at the table in front of it. Lawrence began barking orders to the rest of the crew as they prepared to leave. After a few moments, preparations were complete.

Lawrence once again bowed slightly to Vyse. "Orders, Captain Vyse?"

Vyse looked to his 3 friends. "Are we ready guys?"

No objections. All 3 of them nodded in agreement.

Vyse nodded in Lawrence's direction. "Let's go Lawrence."

Another bow. "Aye aye, Captain Vyse." He turned around and headed for the wheel, ordering the other crew members in the bridge to fire up the engines. Several loud noises were heard and, after about a minute, the Delphinus began to move forward. The rising sun was there to meet them as they left the dock area of Crescent Island.

As they grew further away from the island, everyone looked out the window to gaze at it one last time. They knew they wouldn't be back for quite some time.

Lawrence turned back in Vyse's direction. "Where to Captain Vyse?"

Vyse pondered the question for a moment. He knew what he was looking for but had no clue as to where to begin searching.

"Any suggestions anyone?" he asked his friends at the table.

Gilder raised a finger before he spoke. "Well, we don't have any real leads, so our best course of action is would be to ask around Sailor's Island. Perhaps someone there has seen the ex-Valuans that Juan spoke of.

Vyse nodded to Gilder and turned to Lawrence once more. "Sailor's Island, helmsman Lawrence. Make it so."

Lawrence bowed again. "Aye aye, Captain Vyse." He turned back around and gave the wheel a hard turn. They were now on their way.

Gilder and Clara began to chat at the table as Vyse rose from his chair and walked to the port-side window, folding his arms behind his back as he did so. Fina got up as well and stood next to him, clinging on to his right arm as she did so. They then leaned their heads softly against each other as they watched the sun rise.

"For Aika," said Fina.

"For Aika," agreed Vyse.

Clara nudged Gilder as they were chatting and both looked at Vyse and Fina. They both smiled, happy to see how close the young captain and Silvite maiden had become over the past year.

As the 4 friends enjoyed the moment, the Delphinus sped through the orange and purple sky, the flag that Aika had created flying at half-mast as it did so. Today would be the first day of a long quest for vengeance. A quest of vengeance…for dear Aika.

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Whew! Hope everyone liked the new chapter! I've been getting lots of good reviews lately. Please, spread the word, and don't forget to R&R!


	3. First Encounter

A/N: For the purposes of the story, I'm assuming that Sailor's Island is much bigger than it actually was in the game. For being the main hub of sailors in the game, it was awfully small, wasn't it? Oh, and thanks for the enthusiastic reviews VyseFina4eVa! Thanks to everyone else who reviewed me as well!

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Chapter 3: First Encounter

Vyse walked back into Polly's bar after an unsuccessful day of information gathering with the lovely Fina following close behind him. They spotted Gilder sitting at the bar, eating a plate of Polly's "Sardis Surprise" and sipping some blue loqua. They proceeded to sit next to him.

Polly turned to them and flashed a friendly smile at them. "Hey kids, no luck today?"

They both sadly shook their heads. It was only the end of the first day, but they were still disappointed with the fact that they didn't learn anything the entire day. Perhaps their anxiety was getting the best of them.

Polly kept her smile, despite the sad looks on Vyse and Fina's faces. "Don't worry kids. It's only your first day. In the meantime, how about if I cook you up a little dinner?"

Fina nodded. "Yes, please. We'd greatly appreciate it."

Polly nodded back. "Great! What'll ya have?"

Vyse thought for a moment. "A couple of broiled Gruel and a bottle of silver loqua, please."

Fina pondered the same question. "Umm… just a Sky Moss salad and a glass of milk please."

Polly turned around towards her backroom kitchen. "Robinson! Broil up a couple of Gruel!"

Robinson could be heard in the back yelling, "Gotcha Polly! 2 Gruel, coming right up!"

Vyse began to reach into his pocket when Polly waved her hand.

"No hon. This one's on us. It's the least we can do to help." Having said that, Polly turned around and began preparing Fina's Sky Moss salad.

Vyse turned to Gilder who was just finishing up his meal. "Find anything today?"

Gilder took one last bite of his food. "Nothing. Either everyone here on the island is afraid of the guys we're after, or they _really_ don't know anything about them. Either way, we have no leads." He took a sip from his bottle.

Fina looked around for a moment and turned back to Gilder. "Where's Clara?"

Gilder set down the bottle once more. "Not sure. Last time I saw her was about 2 hours ago. Haven't heard from her since."

Vyse thought for a moment. "Shouldn't we go look for her?"

Gilder shrugged. "I wouldn't worry about it. Clara can take care of herself. She's a little tougher than you think."

No sooner did he say that than they heard a woman outside yelling, "Get your hands off my purse you filthy pirate!"

A loud **_CRACK!_** was heard outside and, a split-second later, a burly pirate wearing a strange outfit came crashing through the door of the bar and hit the ground with a loud **_THUD!_** Not longer afterward, Clara came walking in, dusting off her hands.

"Hmph! That'll teach you a lesson to not mess with ladies!" She walked over to the fallen pirate and kicked him once in the side. "Try to take my purse, will ya?"

Vyse and Fina could only stare, wide-mouthed, as they witnessed the total butt-kicking Clara gave the big pirate. Gilder kept drinking as if nothing happened and didn't even bother to turn around.

"See?" Gilder started. "Told ya." He took another sip from his bottle as he finally turned around.

Clara looked up long enough to see her friends sitting at the bar. "Oh hi guys! I'm not interrupting anything, am I?" She looked a bit sheepish as she folded her arms behind her back.

Despite a loss of words, Fina did the best she could to respond. "N-nothing. Just getting ready to eat some dinner."

Clara's eyes lit up. "Dinner? That's a great idea! I haven't eaten all day!" She rubbed her small stomach and sat down next to Gilder.

Vyse didn't take his eyes off the pirate who was trying his best to stand back up, obviously embarrassed that he was beat-up by such a small woman. The outfit he was wearing caught his eye and he studied it for a moment. Suddenly, his eyes shot open.

"Guys! That's a Valuan Armada uniform! He must be one of the pirates Juan was talking about!" Everyone turned back around as he said this and watched the pirate.

The man looked up with a look of fear in his eyes. He tried to make a break for the door, but Vyse rushed from his seat and tackled him from behind before he could get too far. Fina rose from her seat as well and walked slowly over to the fallen pirate and Vyse while Gilder and Clara watched from their seats.

Vyse flipped the pirate face-up and once he saw the Valuan logo on the man's chest plate, he immediately began to swell with uncontrollable rage. The pirate looked as if he was going to say something but was stopped when Vyse started throwing punches at his face mercilessly. To everyone in the room, he appeared to be nothing more than a brutal savage.

A look of shock crossed Fina's face as she rushed to Vyse's side. She could understand Vyse's pain and sadness, but she didn't want Vyse to lose himself. She immediately grew afraid that this incident may change his personality forever. She couldn't stand to lose the Vyse she had come to know and care so much for.

She kneeled down beside Vyse and put both of her hands on his left shoulder and began to sob. "Vyse, please stop! Don't do this! Don't let this man get the best of you!"

Vyse didn't hear her but he did feel someone grab his shoulder. In his fit of rage, he drew his Lunarian Cutlass and whirled around with a hate-stricken look on his face. His arm was cocked back, ready to strike, but when he saw that it was only Fina, his expression softened immediately to that of a small, hurt child. He dropped the cutlass on the wooden floor of the bar as tears began to form in his eyes. He threw his arms around Fina and held her close as he sobbed uncontrollably. In response, Fina wrapped her arms around Vyse and sobbed with him.

From the bar, Clara could nothing but stare in wonder as she covered her mouth with both of her hands, obviously distraught over Vyse's uncommon act of savage assault. Gilder kept a solemn look on his face. It was certainly unusual to see Vyse like this, but he couldn't blame him. It had only been a day since he lost his childhood friend. He looked to Clara and wondered if he would act any differently if the same had happened to her.

Gilder took one last sip from his bottle and stood up. He walked over to the sobbing couple, drawing a pistol as he did so. He knelt down next to Vyse and whispered, "I'll take care of this Vyse. Just calm down. In time, everything will be alright. Be patient."

He stood once more and strolled over to the bloodied ex-Valuan. The man's look of fear grew even more so when Gilder kneeled next to him and put the barrel of the pistol to the man's head.

He spoke in a low tone. "Ok hombre… me and you are gonna have a talk. Tell me what I wanna know and we'll let you live. Do you understand?"

Although no one realized it, the man was so scared that he had wet himself. Doing his best to ignore the pain, the man gave a slight nod.

Gilder gave an approving smile. "Good. Let's begin with a little Q&A session…"

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Vyse barely nibbled on the 2 Gruel he ordered as he watched the kneeling Gilder "chat" with the ex-Valuan. His eyes were red from all the sobbing he had done a few moments earlier. He wouldn't be even eating now if Clara and Fina had not insisted on it so much. He did his best to suppress his anxiety as he waited for Gilder to finish with the pirate.

Fina did a better job of eating, nearly finishing her salad as she too attempted to listen in on Gilder's conversation. She took one last bite of her salad and grabbed her glass of milk as she slowly spun around in her seat so that she could Vyse, whose back was turned to her. She wanted to reach out and hold Vyse's shoulder but, for some reason unknown to her, she decided against it.

Vyse, Fina, and Clara all assumed the conversation was over when Gilder pistol-whipped the pirate in the back of the head, thus knocking him out. They were out. Gilder stood up and walked back to his seat next to Clara.

Clara decided to voice her impatience. "So?! What did you find out?"

Gilder ordered another bottle of blue loqua. "Not too much. Turns out he's just some bottom-of-the-ladder grunt. However, he did give us the opportunity to gather some more information."

Vyse leaned forward in his seat. "What? How?"

Gilder looked at him with a somewhat disappointed look in his eyes. "It's quite simple, really. His crew will be back to pick him up in the early hours of tomorrow morning." He pointed to the out-cold pirate. "An officer of their little organization will be on board. All we have to do is talk to him."

Another bottle was set on the table and Gilder nodded in the direction of the hand that had set it down. He popped the top and took a hearty drink of the delicious juice.

Vyse looked down and folded his arms. "Hmph. Then we'll just have to attack the ship and/or its crew. I doubt they'll go quietly. I say we just stay in the Delphinus overnight and wait 'til they show up. I doubt their ship can match the Delphinus, combatively speaking."

Clara gave him a questioning glare. "What's wrong with you Vyse? Are you suggesting that we just destroy their ship? How are we supposed to get any information that way?"

Vyse remained silent. He was trying his best to keep his usual cool, but it was becoming too hard. He knew Clara was right, but he also wanted to destroy any cur that is/was associated with the heart-less bastards that killed his friend. He stood up and began to walk towards the door to the bar.

"I'm sorry Clara. You're right… I'll have someone from the Delphinus lock up this guy in the ship's brig." He gave the pirate a slight kick in the side. "We have to make sure that we wake up before his friends come back for him. When they enter the town, we'll ambush them. Is that ok with everyone?"

Everyone nodded in unison. The second plan was far better than his first.

Vyse nodded back at them. "Good. After I get some from the Delphinus to lock up this guy, I'm going to get a room at the local inn. Good night everyone. Be ready for tomorrow." With that, he walked outside and out of the view of his friends.

The three did little but look at each other. They were obviously worried about Vyse, but couldn't think of a way to help him.

Fina looked up with a bit of a sad look on her face. "I'm going to try and cheer him up tonight. Does anyone have any suggestions on how I can do this?"

Gilder looked like he was about to speak but Clara beat him to the punch. "Just be yourself, honey. He always calms down when you're around and your mere presence seems to make him happy."

Gilder closed his eyes and folded his arms. "I concur. You're a really special person to him Fina. Just do what you always do and he should be ok in no time."

Fina's look of sadness grew into a beautiful, heartfelt smile. "Th-thank you Clara and Gilder. Those were very kind words."

Gilder chuckled. "Think nothing of it. We meant every word of it."  
Clara smiled as he said this.

Fina rose from her chair and began to walk out the door when she turned back once more. "I'll talk to him tonight. Wish me luck!" She waved cheerily and walked out.

Clara and Gilder smiled at each other after she left. Gilder took another drink as Clara finally popped the top off of her bottle of Ice Continent water.

Clara giggled. "They seem to be oblivious to each other, don't you think?"

Gilder grinned. "Heh… yeah."

They both clinked their bottles together. "To young love!" they both said at once.

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Awwright! Chapter 3 is done! Chapter 4 will be the first true Vyse and Fina scene. Keep an eye out for Chapter 4: Moonlight. Don't forget to R&R!


	4. Moonlight

A/N: This shall be the first scene when Vyse and Fina show stronger feelings for each other. Perhaps not quite love yet… but pretty close.  
Thanks again for all the reviews! Keep sending them in, please!

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Chapter 4: Moonlight

Fina walked into the Sailor's Island inn with Cupil following close behind. The keeper looked up from a book he was reading and smiled when he saw the graceful girl walk in.

"Why good evening Miss Fina," he started politely. "Are you ready to check in for tonight?"

Fina smiled back and nodded. "Yes sir. Could you tell me what room Vyse is in?"

The innkeeper frowned a bit and bit his bottom lip. "3-B, Miss Fina. He's already checked in, so it should be unlocked. Is he ok, by the way? He looked both angry and sad at the same time when he came in earlier."

Fina looked away for a moment. "Ah… he… just had a bad day. That's all."

The keeper nodded. "I see. We then, here's the key to your room." He tossed her a key which she caught with little difficulty. "Have a good evening miss."

Fina offered a slight bow. "Thank you very much sir. Good night."

Key in hand, Fina and Cupil made their way upstairs and walked around the first bend to reach the "B" section of the inn rooms. Sure enough, the 3rd door on her right was cracked slightly and a breeze could be felt through it.

Fina cracked the door open a little further and peeked inside. She could see Vyse standing on the outside balcony, watching the Silver Moon rising far off in the distance. She let herself and walked towards the open balcony.

Once she was about 5 feet away from him, he turned his head in her direction and a look of surprise came across his face. "Fina? What are you doing here?"

She walked outside to the balcony and stood next to him and looked out towards the open skies and the stars above them. "I'm sorry Vyse. Did I come at a bad time?"

Vyse looked downward, feeling a bit ashamed of what happened earlier at Polly's bar. "No Fina. You never come at a bad time. Besides… I'm the one who should be apologizing to you."

Fina turned to Vyse with a concerned look in her eyes. "Vyse?"

Vyse put both hands on the railing of the balcony and leaned on it. "Back at the bar, I lost complete control of myself. When I found out that that man was a part of the pirates that killed Aika, I felt an insane amount of rage and sadness inside me. All I could think of was making him pay for his crimes, even though, more than likely, he wasn't the one who actually carried out the destruction of Aika's ship."

Fina looked down, unable to say anything. Growing up as a Silvite, the elders taught her little about emotion, so any emotion she felt was a result of her naturally kind nature. She was learning, but was not quite on the level to be able to say the right things to help Vyse.

Vyse continued. "I… I still can't believe that Aika is really gone though. It's only been a little over a day since she passed away and I'm already feeling like I'll never get over this feeling of despair. I keep hoping that this is nothing more than a bad dream, y'know? Like I'll wake up any minute and I'll be back together with both you and her and we can be as happy as we always were."

He paused a moment and sighed as he shook his head. "When old Drachma passed away, it was hard enough. We hadn't known him for very long, but he was so much like a dad or grandfather to us, right? That's why it was so hard to bear when we heard that he had died of old age."

He paused another moment and turned to Fina whose eyes began to grow watery. "It was much worse yesterday when Gilder brought us the dead body of my childhood friend. Aika… we had been best friends for nearly 15 years; almost my entire life. I just… I just don't know what to do. I keep asking myself "What would Aika do?", but I can never answer my own question. I'm running on nothing more than instinct.

He turned back to the starry sky in front of the balcony and clenched his right hand into a tight fist. "And my instinct is telling me to hunt down every single damn one of those rotten pirates. They're going to regret hurting us like they did. I'll destroy them all… for Aika's sake."

Fina grasped Vyse's well muscled and tensed up right arm with both of her small, soft hands. "Vyse… I know I didn't know Aika as long as you did, but she was a very dear friend to me as well. You and Aika were the first friends I ever made besides Ramirez. So, since I can't fully understand your pain, I want you to… share it with me."

Vyse eased up a bit once he felt her delicate touch. Along with her soft voice, it soothed his heart to no end. "Share my pain… with her?" he thought to himself. No… he couldn't do that. Fina was too sweet and innocent to have to feel the pain that he did. Not knowing what to say, he put his left hand on her clasped hands and lightly held them. Her hands were icy and could feel a light shiver run through her as he touched her.

"Fina, your hands are like ice! Are you cold?" Without waiting for her to answer, he took her in his arms and held her tightly but not too much so she could remain comfortable.

A bit surprised, Fina smiled and held the arms that held her. "Thank you Vyse. I was a little cold." It was a white lie. She was actually very cold, but she didn't care. Just the concern that he showed her was enough to make the cold seem like nothing to her. She felt so secure… so safe in his arms. She didn't want it to end.

Vyse looked upward. "I wonder how Aika's doing up there…"

Fina looked up too. "I wonder what heaven's really like…"

They both looked back towards the sky. "We may found out… someday," Vyse said. "Until then, let's do our best here on Arcadia. For everyone's sake."

Fina nodded. "Yes. I'll try my hardest."

As they stared out at the open sky, a million thoughts crossed Fina's mind. She thought of how the security Vyse offered her made her feel so wonderful. The feeling was new, not being one that she learned of while at the Silver Shrine. She wasn't sure how to assess it. She could only hope that she could live and learn, relying upon her naturally kind demeanor to see her through.

Vyse spoke again. "Fina… are you absolutely sure you want to come with us? It's not too late to take you back. I don't want to see you hurt, but I won't stop you if you're sure about this."

Fina thought for a moment and then looked up at Vyse. "I'm positive. I want to help you avenge Aika. I'm scared, but-"

She was cut off by Vyse who held her a little tighter. "Then I swear to protect you! I promise I won't let anyone **_ever_** hurt you. Blue Rogue's Honor! I care about you too much to ever let anything happen to you. You're the most special person in the world to me."

Fina turned around, still in Vyse's arms. A tear of happiness fell from her beautiful eyes. Not fully thinking it through, she suddenly leaned up and kissed Vyse on the cheek.

Vyse could only stand there, shocked and wide-eyed. "F-Fina?"

Fina stepped away from him, obviously embarrassed. Judging by the look on Vyse's face, she thought she had done something wrong.

Fina tried to speak. "Vyse, I… um, uh… I should probably get to bed now. Good night!" With that, she ran off. The look of worry on her face did not go away even when she reached her room.

Vyse was still standing on the balcony. He rubbed the cheek that Fina had kissed grinned. "Heh. So that's it then. I must've sent the wrong message to her. Poor girl… I'm sorry Fina."

He turned once more to face the outside world. "Fina, if you're thinking what I think you're thinking, I feel the same way about you," he said to himself. "I want to tell you know, but perhaps now isn't a good time. I think I'll wait until after we're completely done with the pirates."

He began to walk back into his room and took one last look outside.  
"I think… I love you, Fina," he said, speaking once more to himself. "Wait for me. I promise I won't let you down." He closed the doors to the balcony and turned off the lights as he prepared for a short night of rest.

Not far from his room, Fina sat in her own room and cried. "Vyse… did I do something wrong?" she said to herself. "He makes me feel so good… so safe. I want to always be with him. Is this… love?"

She calmed down a bit and turned off her lights. After a short prayer dedicated to the 6 moons above, she climbed into bed and sobbed herself to sleep.

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Woo! Chapter 4 is done! Kinda short, but I hope it was ok. Looks like they both love each other to an extent, but Fina doesn't think Vyse feels the same way about her, which is false, as you have read. Will their love grow? Only time will tell… and so will more reviews!


	5. Ambush

A/N: Wow. I've gotten quite a bit of work done on this story and my other one lately. I'm getting' to like this whole fanfic writing thing. Anyway, it's time for some "Pow! Bam! Crash!" action. On another note, aren't Vyse and Fina cute? 

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Chapter 5: Ambush

The large gates leading to Sailor Island's port swung open slowly as the sun began to rise over the horizon. Through it walked nearly a dozen men wearing faded Valuans uniforms. They strolled past Polly's bar in unison, failing to notice Vyse hiding around the corner of the Sailor's Guild and Clara and Fina peeking from inside the bar itself.

One of the men piped up. "Man, where is that dope? We told him to wait for us at the front gate. I swear, he better have gotten us some decent loot or I'm gonna be pissed."

Without looking back, another man said, "Shut up Julio. You're gonna wake up the entire island.

They heard something stirring not too far from where they were standing. They all looked around except for the lead man.

"What was that? Did you hear that boss?" one of the men asked, eyes darting from side to side.

"Hmph," the lead man started, "Probably just your imagina-"

He was cut off when, from around the corner of another building, a body was thrown into the middle of the street in front of group of ex-Valuans.

The all of the pirates gasped in surprise. The lead man inspected the body.

"It's him. Someone knocked him out," he said. "What's going on here?"

From around the corner, a grinning man stepped out and said, "I'm what's happening here." He stood in the middle of the street and folded his arms across his chest.

The lead man stared at him coldly. "I know who you are… you're that Blue Rogue, Gilder. You're one of those fools who helped in killing Lord Galcian."

Gilder nodded happily. "Yes sir. It's a feat my friends and I, not to mention the rest of the world, are quite proud of. Now then, I'm here to talk business with you."

The lead man cocked an eyebrow. "Business, rogue?"

Gilder nodded again. "That's right. I want to talk with you about your organization. Y'see, during one of your most recent raids, you killed a very dear friend to me."

Around the corner of the Sailor's Guild, Vyse sank a bit. Every time he heard anyone mention that incident, he immediately grew depressed. He rubbed his face, telling himself to suck it up all the while. This was no time to lose focus. If he did, any of his friends could get hurt. He stood back up and peeked around the corner once more.

The pirates all looked at each other, obviously a bit worried. Taking out a friend of a Blue Rogue was never good news. They remember about how a Blue Rogue named Dyne once took out 3 Valuan battleships at once after they had killed a friend of his. Needless to say, their passion for revenge was legendary indeed.

Gilder continued. "I want you to tell me who the leader of your group is and where your base is, if you even have one."

The leader stared at Gilder coldly. "And what if we don't wanna tell you?"

Gilder smirked. This guy was brave. This might actually be fun. "If you don't comply, your group will be cut-down where they stand."

The rest of the pirates looked around, a bit confused. They saw no one else but Gilder. The leader spat in his direction.

"Go to hell, rogue. There's 12 of us… and 1 of you." With that, the leader drew his gunblade (A/N: Not the ones from FF8. It's those weird ones that some of the Valuan troopers carried in the actual game) and the other's followed suit.

Gilder sighed and slowly drew his guns, pointing them to the ground as he did so. "Sure about that, amigo? It's not too late to change your mind. No one has to be hurt today. You can walk out of this unharmed and help me at the same time. It's a win-win, y'know."

Clara drew back from the window her and Fina were peeking out of and held both of her hands to her heart. "Oh Gilder, you're so brave!" said Clara with a dreamy expression in her eyes. Fina giggled and pulled her back over to the window.

The leader spoke up again. "Feh. You're a bigger idiot than I thought, Gilder. Are you truly this eager to die?"

Gilder laughed and crossed his guns across his chest. That was the signal for Vyse, Fina, and Clara to begin the ambush.

"Good. I was gettin' antsy," Vyse thought as he circled around the guild to get behind the pirates.

Clara turned to Fina and said, "That's our cue! Let's go!"

Fina nodded and walked over to the door, ready to open it up.

The leader tilted his head. "Eh? What's so funny Gilder?"

The Blue Rogue grinned and pointed his guns at the leader. "You." He then whistled.

Hearing the whistle, Vyse ran behind the pirates. Their attention was immediately caught.

"Boss! It's V-V-Vyse the Legend!" the exclaimed in pure fear.

"Don't forget us!" called Clara and Fina as they emerged from the bar.

"Look! It's that Silvite Fina! That crazy woman Clara is with them too!" cried one of the pirates.

Clara stamped her foot, leaned over, and gave that pirate a very evil-looking glare. " "Crazy woman Clara"? Why I aughta…"

After assessing their situation, the leader turned back to Gilder, who had a winning smile on his face.

"Bah. No matter. I'll just call for reinforcements." He took a small device off his belt and was prepared to use it when he was interrupted by Vyse.

"I don't think that's gonna work," Vyse said with a sly smile.

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It didn't. As soon as the pirates left the dock area, the Delphinus emerged from its hiding spot in a nearby sky rift. The battle was short. Well placed concussion shells put an end to any resistance on board.

Taking advantage of the situation, the Delphinus docked right next to the Valuan vessel and took the opportunity to loot the ship and tie-up everyone on board, taking them as prisoners.

As he watched the rest of the crew of the Delphinus carry loot and prisoners back onto their own ship, Lawrence couldn't help but laugh at the easily defeated Valuans.

"Heh…" he started. "Suckers."

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As the men behind him panicked and made a general ruckus, a cold bead of sweat dripped down the leader's face. The situation was nearly hopeless. Even if they managed to dispose of Gilder and his posse, they would still have to face the Delphinus and her crew. With their ship being taken over by the Delphinus, engaging it would be suicide.

A plan crossed his mind. If they could manage to escape or defeat the 4 Blue Rogues around them, they could hide in the city and just wait until the Delphinus left. Once it did so, they could steal someone else's ship and get back to base. It was their only chance.

He pointed his weapon defiantly at Gilder. "Men! Unless you wanna be locked up in a jail cell the rest of your life, you better fight with everything you've got! Get 'im!"

All hell broke loose. Bullets started flying but none found their mark as the panicked men started firing frantically without aiming. After the initial volleys of fire, they all charged at the Blue Rogue closest them.

The leader was the first to go down. After Gilder managed to barely dodge an otherwise well-aimed shot from him, Gilder retaliated with two shots of his own. One struck his right knee cap, shattering it. The other struck the left cap, doing the same. He dropped his weapon and fell to the ground, screaming in pain as a puddle of blood formed underneath him. So much for that plan.

Vyse engaged two pirates at once. They both swung at either of his sides but the blows were easily deflected by Vyse's Lunarian Cutlass(s).

"Wrong move fellas," Vyse said confidently as he delivered a slash to one's left thigh and another slash to the other's right thigh, effectively taking them out of the fight. He moved to engage two more.

Meanwhile, Clara was busy with her own pirate. He was obviously very strong but her skill with a blade was far greater. After deflecting one blow, a second blow from him knocked the saber out of her hand. Thinking he had won, he winded back to make a fatal blow.

This was interrupted however when Clara drew two of the knives from inside her vest and, while he was winding back, jabbed them down into his shoulders, causing him to drop his own weapon. Now distracted, Clara took the opportunity to kick him straight in the groin.

The pirate clutched himself. "M…momma…" he whispered as he fell to the ground, clutching himself, ignoring any pain coming from his now bloody shoulders.

Clara picked up her saber once more. "Hmph. Don't underestimate me." As she moved to help Vyse, she witnessed Gilder take down two more ex-Valuans with 4 well placed shots directed at each of their inner elbows.

Fina, on the other hand, had her hands full. 3 pirates had surrounded her and were prepared to strike her down. She had closed her eyes and began mumbling something about the moons.

"Heh. Check her out, boys. She's praying. Like that's gonna help." They laughed and drew back their blades, ready to strike.

Fina's eyes shot open as a blue circle surrounded her. "Wevlum!"

Before the pirates could say "Huh?", a wave of water and gale of wind slammed them head first into the wall of the Sailor's Guild, knocking them out immediately.

Fina giggled to herself. "Hehe… if they say so." She readied Cupilrang, ready for anyone else she might encounter. The only two pirates that she saw were the only ones left. Vyse and Clara seemed to be dealing with them quite easily. A few slashes to the calves and they were down as well.

Vyse and Clara threw up their arms in victory and cheered. Gilder twirled his guns around and holstered them. Fina merely breathed a sigh of relief and said a short prayer.

Gilder was readjusted his shades when he saw something out of the corner of his eye. Someone was sneaking up on Vyse with a knife drawn! Gilder realized he had made a fatal mistake. When taking a body count, he had counted 12 but had forgotten about the one pirate he threw into the street earlier.

"Vyse! Behind you!" Gilder yelled.

Vyse whirled around but didn't have enough time to draw his blade. The pirate was about to plunge his knife into Vyse's chest when something struck him in the head.

Vyse spotted something flying back around and back to Fina. It was Cupilrang. She had thrown it in just the nick of time.

The pirate wasn't down though and looked as if he was about to strike again. Too late for him. While he was busy recovering his senses, Gilder had enough time to draw one of his gun and. Without really aiming, he fired and watched as blood sprayed from the pirates head. He had delivered a head shot. This man would be the only pirate that died during the encounter.

"Damn," Gilder thought to himself. "I was sloppy. I guess it couldn't be helped. It was either him or Vyse.

Clara walked over to Gilder as he kneeled down next to the pirate leader, ready to interrogate him. She had never seen Gilder kill somebody but she knew that he had done it before. Perhaps she was just shocked at first. In any case, if nothing else, she wanted to make sure he was ok.

Fina ran over to Vyse, a worried expression growing on her face as she did so. "Vyse! Are you ok?"

Vyse was breathing heavily. That was the first near-death experience he'd had in a while. If it wasn't for Fina, he might have perished.

Vyse nodded to her. "Yeah… thanks to you Fina. You saved my life."

Fina smiled happily and threw her arms around Vyse as full daylight broke on the island. In response, Vyse put one arm around her, holding of his cutlass in the other as he did so.

When he held her, he thought back to the night before. The conversation that they had… the embraces they shared… the kiss she gave him. Vyse didn't believe it was the right time to let all of his feelings out but he had to at least let Fina know that she wasn't in the wrong.

Gently brushing aside her shoulder length blonde hair, Vyse kissed her on the forehead. Fina looked up in surprise at him.

"Vyse?" she asked, a bit perplexed. She thought back to last night and the expression he showed when she had kissed him. Was she right after all?

Vyse smiled at her lovingly. "Thank you again Fina. You're a wonderful person.

She smiled back at him in a similar way and they continued their embrace.

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"Find out anything Gilder?" Vyse asked as he oversaw the looting of and taking prisoner of the pirates they had recently beaten the crap out of. They also had the decency to bury the one pirate Gilder had accidentally killed.

"Well," Gilder started as he folded his arms. "Their leader told me that they have taken up temporary residence in Dangrel Island."

Vyse looked up, thoughtfully. It was a good hiding spot. Not many ships in the world had the capability of sailing below the clouds. Besides, there was little to be found beneath the clouds. No one would think to search below them for pirates.

"That's not all Vyse," Gilder continued. "It turns out that, even when we were fighting Galcian's sky fortress, the Hydra, there was already another fortress just like that being built. The Hydra was just a prototype. This one's even bigger and far more powerful."

Vyse's eyes shot open. Could that be possible? The Delphinus barely won against the Hydra a year ago. If what the pirates said about the new sky fortress was true, there's no way they could win.

"Gilder, is it finished?" he asked with anxiety.

Gilder shook his head. "No, but I was also told that it's not very far at all from completion. If we move quickly…"

Vyse cut him off. "I know. Let's take it out while it's relatively defenseless. Hopefully, their leader will be there as well." He clenched his fist. "They're going to pay. Just like these losers." He waved toward the now patched up but tied-up pirates.

Fina and Clara came strolling up to them. "Vyse! Gilder! We picked up some supplies while we were in town," Clara said.

Fina nodded. "Polly also cooked us some breakfast that we can eat along the way of wherever we're going." She then realized that she didn't know where they were going. "Speaking of which, where to next?"

"We'll explain along the way," Gilder answered. "It's potentially serious, but shouldn't be anything we can't handle."

Fina nodded once more. "Okay then. Clara and I will be on-board." With that, the two climbed the ramp leading up to the deck and walked inside the ship.

Gilder walked off as well. "I'll prep the Delphinus for launch. Let's not dawdle for too long."

Lawrence then came up to Vyse. "Captain Vyse, what should we do about their ship? It's sustained no damage."

Vyse thought for a moment. He took out a piece of paper and quickly scrawled about ten sentences and handed the paper to Lawrence.

"If possible, enlist the help of some sailors looking for work," Vyse began. "See if you can't get them to fly the ship back to Crescent Isle. Should they accept, give them this letter, and have them present the letter to Don. The letter is to inform Don to give the men that bring the ship to the island the amount of money I have listed inside and then give them a ride back to Sailor's Isle. Understood?"

Lawrence bowed slightly. "Of course, Captain Vyse. I shall make haste to the Sailor's Guild." Lawrence took off as Vyse oversaw the remaining preparations.

Roughly 10 minutes later, Lawrence came back with a group of about 8 sailors, all completely different shapes and sizes.

"Captain Vyse, these men have agreed to your terms," Lawrence said.

Vyse nodded. Good job Lawrence. We're done here. Please get on board and set a course for Tenkou Island. We'll drop off the pirates there. No way they'll escape from there."

Lawrence bowed again. "Aye aye, Captain Vyse." Lawrence did as he was told.

Vyse briefly explained to the sailors once more what they were supposed to do. After he received a confirmation of their understanding, the sailors and Vyse parted ways. Vyse made his way to the bridge and saw everyone there. Gilder had just finished explaining to Clara and Fina the situation at hand and turned to face Vyse as he came in.

"Alright everybody. First stop, Tenkou Island. We'll drop off those loser pirates there. Then, it's off to Dangrel Island. Is everyone ready to leave?" Vyse asked.

Everyone nodded. Nodding back, Vyse said, "Lawrence, let's move out."

Lawrence acknowledged him. "Aye aye, Captain Vyse." The engines fired up and Lawrence gave the wheel a hard turn to the right. Once satisfied with his bearing, Lawrence turned the engines to full speed and took off towards Yafutoman airspace.

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The plot thickens, as does the feelings between Vyse and Fina. Now that she's been kissed back, this brings the step one step closer to being lovers. But what will happen once the reach Dangrel Island? Are the ex-Valuans really in the process of making a sky fortress even more powerful than Galcian's Hydra? Stay tuned for more and keep the reviews coming in!


	6. The Plan

A/N: Aww, I love good reviews! Being added to watch lists (2 for this story, 2 for my other one) makes me feel all warm inside! It also warms up the ol' typing fingers, so please keep the reviews coming in! Tell you friends! Ahem…

Boy, those were some really wussy pirates in that last chapter, eh? Oh well. At least our heroes know where to go next. Vyse is one step closer to completing his quest for vengeance…or is he?

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Chapter 6: The Plan

Their stay on Tenkou Island was short. Upon reaching the island stronghold above the clouds, the Delphinus immediately docked and unloaded the prisoners. The remaining Tenkou upon the island were all too happy to take the twelve men.

"Thanks Vyse!" one of the Tenkou exclaimed. "We broke our sparring dummies! I'm sure we'll get a lot of use outta these guys!"

After a few quick goodbyes, the Delphinus made its way toward Pirate Isle, the landmark closest to Dangrel Island. The trip turned out to a fairly long one, so the Blue Rogues on board decided to take the opportunity to formulate an attack plan for Dangrel Island.

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Vyse folded his arms across his chest. "Alright Gilder. Any clue on how we should go about this?"

Gilder looked down a moment, lost in thought. "The way I see it, there's at least a couple of ways we can go about this."

Fina looked over at Gilder. "What are they?"

Gilder straightened his shades. "First option: launch an all-out artillery assault on the island. The Delphinus more than likely has enough ammunition to destroy Dangrel Island. This option should not only deal with all the pirates at once, but should also render the sky fortress too damaged to operate. However, this is a very expensive path and it's a bit… brutal."

Clara looked over at Vyse who was looking down at the steel floors of the Delphinus. She knew that he was seriously considering this option. Money wasn't an issue with him, naturally. This would more than likely be the safest all-around option but it would involve a massive loss of life. Vyse was never one for stuff like that. She wondered if he would actually entertain the first option.

Gilder held up two fingers. "Second option: lay siege to the island. Basically, we make sure that no other ships come to the aid of Dangrel Island. Once in a while, we could launch a volley of cannon and torpedo fire at the island, just to scare them a bit. Eventually, a supply shortage or just out-right fear may cause them to surrender. This option involves the least amount of human life-loss, but it will take a long time to win the siege. We may not have that much time."

Fina was in favor of this one. The pirates were bad people but, to her, slaughtering them would accomplish little if anything. If they could cause everyone to surrender, they may learn a few things that they didn't know before. However, it was impractical as it would take far too long to win with a strategy like that.

Gilder held up three fingers. "Third and final option: infiltrate Dangrel Island. We'd have to dock with the island and fight our way inside to wherever the sky fortress is currently being built. This is a sort of happy median between the previous two options, for taking down pirates with non-fatal attacks is no problem for us and it'll be quick to execute. However, this option will most obviously prove to be the most dangerous one to us of the three."

The other three heroes remained silent. Vyse was lost in thought and Fina and Clara were simply waiting to hear what Vyse would say.

Gilder shrugged. "That's all I can think of Vyse. No matter which option you take, I'll be behind you the entire way."

Clara nodded. "As will I, Vyse. You can count on me."

Fina walked up to Vyse and held his right arm with both of her soft hands. "Me too, Vyse. I'll do anything to avenge Aika and… and…" She paused and thought for a moment. "…and to ease your pain."

Vyse's mind stilled for a moment. Just as Clara thought, Vyse was beginning to lean greatly toward option one. However, once he heard Fina speaking to him so sweetly, his rage suppressed rage dwindled away to nearly nothing. He put his free hand on top of both of hers, turned to her, and smiled.

"Option one will do, if you guys don't mind. To make it easier, we'll launch a volley or two of cannon-fire at the island to soften it up a bit and hopefully scare away any dock defenders. Nothing terribly extreme. Is everyone ok with that?" Vyse asked.

Fina smiled back and rested her head on his shoulder. She was happy. He was learning how to cope with the rage brought about by Aika's death, meaning he was able to make more calm-minded decisions. Perhaps he wouldn't lose himself after-all.

"It's fine with me Vyse," said Fina. "Hopefully, we can finally catch their leader and make him pay for his crimes."

Gilder and Clara both nodded in unison. True, this was the most dangerous option, but they didn't care. Besides, this gave them a chance to deal with their leader in a proper Blue Rogue's fashion: face-to-face in honorable combat.

Vyse held up a clenched fist. "Alright everyone. Make any final preparations that you have to. The boarding party will consist of Gilder, Clara, Fina, and myself. Everyone else will stay on board and continue manning the Delphinus."

Vyse turned to his helmsman, Lawrence. "You're in command while we're gone. Once we're off the ship, I want you to circle the island and make sure that no one enters or escapes from the island. You are authorized to open fire on anyone that does so."

Lawrence gave his signature bow. "Aye aye, Captain Vyse. How will I know when to pick you up, sir?"

"I'll grab a flare gun before I leave," Vyse answered. "Once you see the flare, make your way back to the island with great haste. If anyone is injured, they'll need to be healed immediately."

Lawrence nodded. "Understood Captain Vyse."

Lawrence turned to the young boy Marco, who was currently washing the floors of the bridge. "Marco, you heard what was going on, correct?"

Marco looked up from his work. "Huh? Oh, yes sir, Mr. Lawrence."

Lawrence nodded. "Good. Inform the rest of the crew about what is going to happen. Dangrel Island is not too much farther from here. Move quickly."

Marco gave a sloppy looking salute. "Aye aye!" Marco ran out the door leading to the rest of the ship.

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Dangrel Island loomed in front of the Delphinus, roughly a mere two miles from their position. The ship came to a full stop as they made final preparations.

Vyse looked around at his boarding party. They were ready to go. Perhaps a little scared, but ready nonetheless.

Pacing in front of them, Vyse said, "If anyone doesn't want to go, now is the time to speak up. No one is obligated to go on this mission. It will be very dangerous… someone may be hurt or perhaps even…" He paused for a moment. "…killed," he finished.

Shrugging, Gilder said, "Bah. You should be more worried about the stupid pirates than about me!" Feeling confident, he un-holstered one gun and spun it around and re-holstered it with great finesse.

Clara just smiled. "Are you kidding? This is for Aika! Of course I'm going!"

Vyse looked over at Fina. "How about you Fina? Are you sure you won't stay behind?"

Fina looked at him with a gentle look in her eye. "I won't ever leave you Vyse. Like Clara said, this is for Aika. I'll do my best to help avenge our friend." A small but beautiful smile came to her face.

"Cuuu!" Cupil said as he buzzed around Fina's head.

Losing his look of seriousness, Vyse smiled at his crew. "Thank you everyone. I'm lucky to have such great friends."

"I'm going too," said a voice coming from the back of the bridge.

Everyone turned with a look of shock on their face. It was Juan, decked out in his old suit of Valuan armor and clutching a well cared for Valuan gunblade.

A puzzled Vyse looked at Juan. "Juan?! What are you doing up? You need to rest!"

Juan walked to the four friends with a small limp in his step. "This is for Miss Aika. She treated her crew, ex-Valuans, like they were all old friends of hers. As the sole surviving member of her crew, it my duty to assist in avenging her. Forgive the insubordination, sir, but I will not accept no as an answer."

Vyse appeared as if he was going to protest, but Clara clasped her hand over his mouth. "We'd be happy to have you come along Juan. I understand where you're coming from and it'd be wrong to not let you help us. Isn't that right Vyse?" She smiled at Juan, tuned, and gave Vyse a very evil-looking stare.

Mumbling could be heard from the captain. He eventually sighed and nodded to Juan. "You can come, Juan. We could probably use more help anyway."

Juan knelt and bowed his head. "Thank you Captain Vyse. I swear on my family's name that I will not let you down."

Fina leaned over and whispered into Vyse's ear, "Thank you Vyse. I'm sure this means a lot to him."

The friendly smile of Vyse came to him once more as he leaned over to Fina. "I was just worried about him," Vyse whispered back. "That's all."

Juan stood once more and the boarding party of five looked out of the main window of the bridge, watching Dangrel Island.

Turning to the party, Lawrence said, "Captain Vyse, we are within firing range of the island and all other preparations are complete. We await your orders sir."

Vyse looked down for a moment, thinking, as he tapped the holstered flare gun on his side. He turned to his party and they all nodded in unison to him. He gave them a thumbs-up and turned back to the main window.

"Mr. Lawrence?" Vyse started.

Lawrence responded, "Yes captain?"

Vyse closed his eyes for a moment and took a deep breath. This was it. No turning back now. "I promise Aika," he said to himself. "I promise that you'll be avenged.

His eyes shot open and he pointed forward. "Open fire!"

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The attack has begun! Juan is finally back on his feet and is ready to help Vyse avenge Aika. But will it be enough? Will they make it in time to stop the sky fortress? Tune in next time to find out! Send more reviews please!


	7. Infiltration

A/N: The assault has begun! Let's hope that our heroes nab that stupid pirate leader!

To answer a question that was posed to me earlier, heh… nah, it's not already written out. All of this is more or less off the top of my head. I wish it was already written out though. It's getting harder and harder to pump out chapters quickly, so if you y'all don't mind, I'm going to slow down a bit. Maybe limit myself to 1-2 chapters a week. Hope no one's mad!

One other thing: I'm thinking about making Under the Sky So Blue into part of a larger saga. There are a number of stones left unturned in Arcadia that some may have never thought of. Not only will this bring more action and such, but it will help to further the romance of Vyse and Fina. Don't worry though. By the end of Under the Sky So Blue, they will confess everything. Everything after that will just be… reinforcement, so to speak. If anyone wants to see a larger saga be built from this, please let me know in your reviews! Along the way, I may make a side-story or two. These will most likely involve Gilder and/or Clara, but we'll see…

That being said, on with today's story!

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Chapter 7: Infiltration

The shots didn't miss their mark. The entire first volley of cannon-fire slammed into the docks of Dangrel Island, damaging a few ships and cannon turrets that were meant to defend the island. The Delphinus moved in closer.

Vyse threw his arm forward. "Second volley, fire!"

Another volley was released from the Delphinus. Again, they all found their mark. Two of the ships that were parked were so heavily damaged from this most recent strike that they broke away from the dock and plummeted into Deep Sky. Panicked men could be seen running around the dock as they were trying to figure out what to do.

The captain of the world's most powerful battleship picked up a scout's scope and observed the damage done to the dock. A few fires had broken out and roughly five bodies lie strewn about the dock. Damage done to the docks themselves had been quite extensive. Vyse was proud of his gunners. At this rate, it would be entirely too easy to just destroy the entire island with cannon-fire. However, he had remembered what Fina had told him.

"Don't lose yourself, Vyse," he told himself. "Aika wouldn't want that either." He nodded and put down the scope.

"Release one more volley at the docks and target the uppermost buildings with two torpedoes," he ordered.

One more volley was set loose as two torpedoes were shot into the sky, preparing to home in on their target. One of the thus-far undamaged docks was completely annihilated when a lucky shot from the Delphinus struck a canister of red moon stones sitting nearby, causing a massively destructive blast to ripple throughout the dock area. The rest of the shots mostly hit unimportant targets such as supply crates and loading crates.

Vyse picked up the scope once more as he observed the path of the torpedoes. He watched as they began to make their way downward toward their targets. Their speed increased greatly just before they struck their targets: the two tallest buildings located on the island. As soon as they hit, all the lights on Dangrel Island went out, only to have some replaced by ones not quite as bright, others to be replaced by red emergency lights.

The captain smirked as he set down the scope once more. He turned to his boarding party. "Is everyone ready?" he asked.

They all nodded. He nodded back and turned to Lawrence.

"Lawrence, take us in. We've done enough damage to the docks to make a safe entrance for ourselves. Do you remember what you're supposed to do once we land?"

Lawrence nodded without turning to his captain. "Aye aye, sir."

Pleased with the preparations, Vyse said, "All right everybody. Let's do it!"

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The Delphinus docked at the one dock that not received too much damaged. The ramp was lowered and the boarding party rushed off, not wanting to waste any time. Vyse turned back and faced the bridge, giving it a thumbs-up. Once that was done, the Delphinus began to pull away, ready to perform its part of the raid.

Everyone readied their weapons as they looked around the dock. No one was waiting for them. After watching their comrades die, the ex-Valuans must've lost the will to fight and ran.

Once everyone was finished, a PA speaker crackled to life. "Blue Rogues," the voice said, "this was very foolish of you. Not only did you manage to anger me, but you are already too late. The "Jericho" is complete! There's no stopping it now! Hahaha-"

The voice was cut-off when Gilder shot the speaker. Everyone looked at him.

"What?" he started. "That guy was getting on my nerves."

Before he could even finish his sentence, guards were already beginning to pour out of the remaining doors that hadn't been smashed to bits by cannon-fire.

"Figures!" Clara complained. With her free hand, she drew one of her daggers from her vest. "Vyse! Get going! Gilder and I will draw their attention!"

Fina wanted to protest but Vyse cut her off. "Alright. You guys take care!"

Gilder began firing with both guns. "Don't die, kid!" he grinned over at Vyse.

Vyse smiled back and flashed a thumbs-up. With that, Vyse, Fina, and Juan snuck around the remains of one of the docks and made their way inside and Gilder and Clara fought outside.

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"This way!" Juan exclaimed as he took point. Juan had once told Vyse and everyone else that, at one time, he was stationed at Dangrel Island and knew the layout of the base better than anyone else.

Vyse and Fina followed close behind him. The halls were bare of any signs of life. Any the weren't killed by the initial attack were most likely either outside fighting Gilder and Clara or were a part of the Sky Fortress "Jericho's" crew.

Speakers in the base crackled to life. "It's pointless Vyse! Go back now and find someplace to hide!"

As they ran along, Fina targeted any speakers she could find with the Cupilrang and struck them down. Vyse turned to her and smiled as they ran.

"Thanks Fina. Gilder was right. That guy is annoying," he said.

Fina smiled back and turned back forward. Up ahead, Juan had just bumped into a few troopers coming out of a side room. Juan and the troopers just stared at each other for a few moments before fighting broke out. Juan was very strong and was able to keep them from pouring through the door, meaning he only had to fight one man at a time. He looked back at his two companions.

"Get going you two!" he exclaimed. "These guys are no match for me! Hurry and stop Jericho!"

This time, even Vyse had to protest. "Juan! We can't leave you here! There's no one here to help you!"

Juan growled back. "Don't about little things like that! I can take care of myself! Now get going!"

Vyse was about to speak again when Fina ran past Vyse and began dragging him along. "Vyse, come on! Everyone's fighting for our success! We can't let them down!"

Vyse sighed and began running too so he wouldn't force Fina into dragging him. Behind them, Juan could be heard yelling and clashing with the enemy troopers. They ran past an open, heavy-looking security door with a small control room above and made their way down to the bottom floor. 

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The passed a few more empty rooms once they reached the bottom floor and came face-to-face with a _massive_ door made of steel. Vyse began to search for a control panel as Fina's heart raced. Vyse heard her begin to breathe very heavily and walked over to her.

"Fina? Are you ok?" he asked.

Sweat could be seen dripping down her face. "I-I'm scared, Vyse."

Vyse's eyes began to water. It brought great amounts of pain to his heart to see Fina like this. Such a wonderful girl shouldn't be subject to negative feelings such as these.

He embraced Fina warmly. "It's ok Fina… it's ok…" He pulled back a bit and smiled as her stared into her beautiful yet sad-looking eyes. "I'm scared too. Let's help each other be not scared. We have to win Fina. We just have to…"

A few tears dropped down her cheek as she threw her arms around Vyse. She looked up at him. "Vyse… there's something I want to tell you."

Vyse was pretty sure he knew what she was going to say. Unfortunately, this was neither the time nor place to make such confessions and share such feelings.

"Hey, you act like we're not gonna make it out of this alive. I promise you can tell me after we kick this guy's and the Jericho's butt! How's that sound?" He flashed a confident smile at her as he wiped the tears from her eyes.

She smiled warmly back at him and nodded. "Ok Vyse. I'll do my best. Let's stop this man… together!"

They hugged once more and Vyse pressed a few buttons on the control panel. The massive door slowly opened and a great amount of light flooded the hallway they were standing in. They slowly walked into the light.

Two gunshots rang out.

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Gaha! Suspense is a real… killer! ::laughs at own stupid pun:: Anyway, what will happen to Vyse and Fina? Will she be stopped from telling Vyse her true feelings for him? And what about the rest of the crew? Will they be alright? Find out this and more in Chapter 8!

Keep the reviews coming in! A reviewed Steve is a productive Steve! D Also, let me know what you think about a continuing saga and side-stories!

Oh, and sorry for the sorta short chapter. Work is killing me.


	8. The Jericho

A/N: Wow, hard to believe I'm on my 8th chapter now. And to think, I used to hate writing, heh…

Concerning my plans for a saga of sorts, I think I'm gonna go with it. That being said, "Under the Sky So Blue" shall be Book 1 of the "Blue and Silver" saga. I'm **_planning_** on three more "books", but we'll see what happens. Anyway, thanks, as always, for all the kind reviews! I look forward to seeing more!

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Chapter 8: The Jericho

Vyse yelled out in pain as he was struck. One bullet pierced his right knee. The other went straight through the inside of his left elbow. The following reaction caused Vyse to fall to his knees and drop his left-handed Lunarian Cutlass, his blood spilling to the cold, steel floor as he did so.

"Vyse!" Fina screamed as she knelt down beside him.

Another gunshot was heard and the whole world seemed to go in slow motion. At that sound, Fina had turned her head in the direction of the noise. While she turned, her life began to flash before her eyes. She thought she was going to die when something truly amazing happened: through some hidden and unknown feat of speed, Vyse put his remaining cutlass in front of her face, deflecting the bullet harmlessly.

He gritted his teeth as he tried to deal with his own pain. "No…" he said quietly. "I swore to protect her, and I intend to do so!" He began to lean to the side Fina was at, unable to support himself. "I'll… I'll never let you hurt her!"

Fina caught him, still amazed at what had just happened. The speed in which he moved was simply unnatural. "Vyse… how did you do that?" she thought to herself." It was certainly a good question. It's as if he was truly driven by his vow to protect her.

"Vyse," she started, "you saved my life. I…"

Vyse did his best to hobble in front of Fina to defend her from any future attacks from their unknown assailant. He put his blade in front of them.

"Fina, I swore to protect you. You're too precious to me to let something happen to you," he said with pain in his voice.

Fina crouched behind him. "Vyse…"

A heartless laugh could be heard somewhere in the darkness ahead of them. A figure wearing very ornate Valuan battle armor walked form the shadows, holding a smoking gun-blade in his left hand. He shot an evil, discomforting smirk in the direction of Vyse and Fina.

"How touching," he said blandly. "I don't know how you managed to block that last bullet, but I must say that I am quite impressed, Vyse the Legend." He looked just behind Vyse at Fina. "And this must be Fina, heh. She's a lovely young girl. No wonder you're obsessed with protecting her."

Vyse gritted his teeth in pure anger. He wanted so badly to get up and rush this guy. However, given the condition of his knee, he knew he would be cut down before he even got a chance to attack once. He had to play it cool, and did so fairly well.

"Shut up!" he yelled. "Who are you?"

If the evil man's smirk could've grown any larger, it just did. He swung his gun-blade to the side in an obvious attempt to look intimidating or perhaps just cool. "Hmph. Seeing as you're about to die, I see no real problem with sharing my identity with you. I am Vicente, commander of the Neo-Valuan Armada. I was Lord Galcian's Vice Captain until I was made the captain of my own ship and Ramirez came to Valua."

The young heroes looked at him with wide-eyes. "Neo-Valuan Armada? You mean you're not just pirates?" asked Fina. "Are you seeking to revive the pre-destruction Valua?"

Vicente folded his arms and nodded. "That's the gist of it. Enrique is too weak to lead a nation as mighty as Valua. Once he began rebuilding Valua, most of the soldiers didn't come to his aid, longing for the days when they were in charge of the skies. Now, they have come to me, ready to fight for what Valua once was: the greatest nation in the world As for the pirate colors we've been flying, heh… that's only a ruse. Once we take over and "clear the skies of all pirates", we'll be looked upon as liberators!"

Vyse swung his sword in the man's direction in frustration. He couldn't believe this guy! Why would anyone want to revive Valua to what it once was? "That's madness!" he exclaimed with great anger. "And that's not all! You killed Aika, didn't you?! Didn't you?!?!"

Vicente shrugged heartlessly. "Is that the girl with the bad hair and that stupid looking ship? If so, then yes. We didn't intend to kill her. We only wanted to disable it, take all the riches, and take everyone hostage. As it turns out, she was killed and her ship was destroyed." He shrugged again. "Oh well."

A horrified look came across Vyse's face. The utter heartlessness that this man displayed was enough to make one wonder "Just how low can someone stoop?" Memories of Aika began to flash through Vyse's mind.

_"Vyse, you'll make a great captain someday!"_

Tears came to the Blue Rogue's face as he looked downward.

_"Hey Vyse! If something ever happens to me, you'll come save me, right?"_

Vyse reached for his dropped cutlass with his injured arm, ignoring any and all pain that shot through it.

_"We'll sail the skies together, looking for adventure and all kinds of treasure! It'll be fun!"_

Through some unknown feat of determination, Vyse used his cutlasses to help him stand up.

_"Vyse, thank you for always being such a nice guy. You really know how to make a girl happy."_

"Vyse?" said Fina as she watched Vyse's amazing feat of strength. He didn't turn back. As much as he cared for Fina now, he couldn't hear her. The thought of avenging Aika's death took precedence over everything else he might have or should have been thinking.

_"I'll always be your best friend, Vyse…"_

Just as it did before, the entire world seemed to move in slow motion as he began to dash at Vicente, leaving a trail of blood in his wake.

_"Always…"_

"**_YOU BASTARD!!_**" screamed Vyse as he dashed toward Vicente who only now was beginning to show signs of panic. He drew his gunblade and aimed it at Vyse. He pulled the trigger as Vyse swung his blades. Both attacks connected. Vicente suffered a large gash across his chest, just short of being a critical wound. The bullet he fired connected with and went straight through Vyse's right upper chest, spraying blood as it did so. Vicente stumbled back into a crate and Vyse fell to the ground.

Fina couldn't believe what she just saw. She covered her mouth with her hands. "No… Vyse… Vyse… please, get up." She ran over to him and knelt down. "Hang on Vyse!"

He couldn't hear her. He was in too much pain to know what was going on around him. She placed both of her hands on his chest wound and closed her eyes. "Moons… please… help me," she whispered. Her hands began to glow with a green light. "Sacres…"

The wound began to glow with the same green light and slowly began to mend itself. Vyse coughed twice and opened his eyes. "Fina…" he whispered.

"Vyse, don't talk! Save your strength!" she said in a panic.

Vicente was recovering from his attack. He shook his head a few times and began to walk back towards them.

"You insolent brats! It's over for you now!" he cried as he pointed his gunblade at Fina's head.

Before he could kill Fina, from seemingly nowhere, someone rammed into him: Juan!

"Hurry!" he yelled. "It's too late to stop Jericho! Get Vyse out of here!"

Fina panicked. This was their chance to escape but she couldn't simply leave Juan behind. "No!" she cried. "We're not going to le-"

The two men continued to wrestle each other, rolling this way and that. "There's no time for arguing! Reinforcements are on their way to the hangar and the Jericho is about to take off! Please, go!"

Sure enough, from another door on the far side of the dark hangar came nearly a dozen men with swords, ready to do battle. They ran towards the Blue Rogues and Vicente.

"Ha!" Vicente exclaimed as he kicked Juan off of him, sending him about ten feet away.

Juan looked over at the heroes as the soldiers closed in. "Please… for everyone's sake…go."

Fina helped the injured Vyse up, who was still in too much pain to fully comprehend what all was going on. She looked over at Juan. He would surely die here, but as much as she wanted to help him, she knew that it was impossible. Without Vyse, she couldn't take on so many fighters. Juan was willing to die for them… she couldn't let it be in vain.

"Juan… thank you," she said as she began to hobble away with Vyse. "We'll never forget you!" They made their way through the door they came through earlier and closed it behind them.

Juan stood back up, determined to help the Blue Rogues until his own demise came to him. With the soldiers being less than fifteen feet away from him now, he drew his finely decorated gunblade and took aim.

"For the Blue Rogues! For the world!" he cried as he fired.

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Gilder and Clara watched the docks of Dangrel Island from the safety of the Delphinus' bridge. They hovered a mere one hundred yards away, awaiting the arrival of Vyse, Fina, and Juan as they did so. They saw the island begin to shake and immediately took it as a bad sign.

"Whoa, what's going on? Did they actually take out the Jericho?" asked Gilder.

Clara shook her head, obviously worried. "I'm more worried about Vyse, Fina, and Juan. I hope they're okay."

Gilder closed his eyes for a moment. Previously, Vyse had told Gilder that if anything should happen to him, Gilder must assume the role of captain of the Delphinus. This thought frightened him. He would carry out his duty of sorts, but not if he didn't have to. He knew Vyse was in danger. He could just feel it.

He turned to Lawrence. "Lawrence, take us back down. I'm going back in there for them!"

Clara looked at him and began protesting. "But Gilder, what if something happens to you too?"

Gilder shook his head. He didn't want to make Clara worry, but if he had to, he would. "Clara, this is taking too long. They should've been here by now. Something must've happened. I'm going back in."

It was no good arguing with Gilder. She had learned this about him as their friendship grew over the years. Oftentimes, when he wanted to do something dangerous, she would usually just sigh and go along with him. This time was no different.

"Alright Gilder, you're right. I'll just have to go wi-" Clara started to say.

Lawrence cut her off. "Vice Captain Gilder, there they are! However… I only see two of them." Lawrence picked up the scope that Vyse had used earlier and zoomed in on the two figures on the docks. He put it back down slowly after confirming who it was. "It's Captain Vyse and Miss Fina, but the captain looks to be badly injured."

Gilder pointed to the docks. "Lawrence! Move in immediately and pick them up! We have to move fast. I have a feeling that the rumbling from the island is being caused by Jericho."

Lawrence sharply turned the wheel. "Aye aye, sir!"

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"Come on Vyse! We're almost there!" Fina said, trying to keep Vyse's spirits up. "See? There's the Delphinus now!"

Vyse didn't even bother looking up. He was too weak… too frustrated. Not only did he fail to bring down the man responsible for Aika's death, but he also did what he swore not to do: lose himself. When he learned who Aika's murderer was, he had lost all control of himself, wanting only to kill the one responsible.

"Vyse, please…" Fina pleaded. "We need you. Please don't give up."

Vyse was too ashamed to look up. He felt that he didn't deserve to be in her presence after what he had done. True, he had saved her life, but in no way did he believe that it made up for breaking a promise. "Fina… I'm so sorry. I've lost myself and I broke my promise. Not only that, but my foolishness got Juan killed."

Fina said nothing for a moment as she observed the Delphinus close in on them. She thought for a moment and came up with what she thought were the right words. She put her right hand on his cheek and spoke softly to him. "Vyse, nobody's perfect. What you did was perfectly natural. Your apologies go to show that you haven't lost yourself. As for Juan… Juan died not just for us, but for what he believed in. It isn't your fault Vyse. Let us honor him by taking down this madman and his sky fortress!"

Vyse looked up in surprise at Fina. Just as she had thought, they were the right words. "Fina… thank you. I wish I was strong as you. I'm sorry about before."

Fina smiled and pointed at the now arrived Delphinus. The island began to shake more violently. "Come on Vyse! Let's get on board and stop this guy!"

Vyse smiled back at her as she helped him hobble on board. "Yes… let's."

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Fina joined Gilder and Clara at the observation window as Vyse was seated in a nearby chair while Ilchymis tended to his wounds. He would be too weak to walk or do anything strenuous on his own for at least a day or two, even with the help of magic. However, he was still ok enough to act as captain and issue orders.

Every looked out of the window when a loud crash was heard. From the far side of Dangrel Island arose an extremely massive Sky Fortress, looking to be roughly twice the size of Galcian's "Hydra". Clara and Fina put their hands to their mouths almost simultaneously.

"By the moons!" gasped Fina.

"Is that… the Jericho?" asked Clara.

Gilder nodded to both of them. He was extremely worried now. Even by just taking Jericho's size into account, he didn't think that the Delphinus had much of a chance to stop this thing. "What have we gotten ourselves into?" he wondered to himself. He watched as Jericho began to rise above the first level of clouds, putting it fairly close to Pirate Isle. "If that thing makes it to any large place like Sailor's Island…" He turned to Vyse. "Vyse, it's risen above the lower-cloud layers. What do you want us to do?"

Once Gilder said this, everyone turned to their injured captain. His eyes were closed as he pondered his options. After thinking a moment, he opened his eyes once more.

"Take us to normal altitude, Lawrence," he said. "We're going after Jericho."

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Whew, that was a fairly long chapter! Well, Juan is dead, Vyse thought he "lost himself" and is badly injured, and the Jericho has risen to normal altitudes, ready to start its conquest of the world. Does the Delphinus have any real hope of taking Jericho down? Tune in next time to find out! Thanks in advance for any and all reviews! Next chapter coming (relatively) soon!


	9. Unstoppable Jericho

A/N: Welcome to tonight's heavy-weight title match! In this corner is the flagship of the Blue Rogues: The Delphinus! And in the other corner, we have the largest sky fortress ever made: The Jericho! Let the games begin! Ding! Ding!

Remember how big the Hydra was in SoA? Well, as I said before, imagine a double-sized Hydra. THAT'S the Jericho. Hydra was tough enough. Now picture in your mind the Delphinus trying to fight this new monstrosity… ahem. Doesn't look fair, does it? Be sure to root for our heroes! This ain't gonna be easy!

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Chapter 9: Unstoppable Jericho

The clouds parted as the Delphinus rose through them in its pursuit of the Jericho. Onboard, a determined crew of Blue Rogues looked on as the massive sky fortress came into view. The Jericho was not moving, as if it was waiting for the Delphinus to emerge from below.

Lawrence turned his head to the right, not taking his hands off the wheel as he began to speak with his captain. "We've reached normal cruising altitude, Captain Vyse. What are your orders now?"

Vyse winced as shifted positions in his chair. His bound wounds were painfully irritating to say the least, despite the fact they had subject to Ilchymis' medicines and Fina's curative magiks. Gazing out of the observation window, Vyse began to wonder just how they were going to take Jericho down. He took the time to assess the situation.

The way things stood now, the Delphinus had only a small chance for victory. Judging from size alone, it would take every last ounce of firepower they had to even damage Jericho. Concerning the Jericho's own arsenal, one could easily assume that it had enough firepower to match any armada in Arcadia. Its armor, most likely, was just short of impervious. It was truly a wonder that this thing was even flying. The Delphinus did have two advantages of its own, however. One was the obvious speed difference. The Delphinus was already the fastest battleship in the world, but when compared to the massive Jericho, it appeared to be even faster than before. The other difference was the size difference. While the Jericho's size gives it more access to weapons and armor, it was also a very large target, thus making it so that a gunner would have to try and miss in order to miss their mark. The Delphinus' relative smallness, however, made it a very hard target to hit. Combining this with the Delphinus' speed made it even harder to do so.

As Vyse pondered what his next course of action would be, the communications panel next to his engineer, Hans, flickered to life. Hans turned to his captain and said, "Captain Vyse! We're being hailed by Jericho!"

Vyse nodded. "Right. Put him through."

Hans immediately complied and, after a few buttons were pressed, the ship's PA crackled to life. The voice that followed was that of Vicente. "Blue Rogues, before we open fire on and destroy your pitiful ship, I would like to make you an offer."

Clara beat Vyse to the punch. "What do you want, you monster?!"

A sadistic chuckle was heard. "Easy, lady. I want to give the Blue Rogues a chance to surrender and join the NVA. What do you say, Vyse? There's no need to die senselessly here. You seem to be a very charismatic leader. I could use someone like you in our new empire. Your little friends can join you, too. Even that pretty little girl you were so dead-set on guarding. What do you say, Vyse?"

Vyse and Gilder looked at each other and grinned. Surely this guy wasn't serious. After all, whoever heard of a Blue Rogue that surrendered? Vyse called Gilder, Clara, ad Fina to him and they huddled for a moment. Afterward, they broke apart and silently counted to three. At three, all four of them burst out into hysterical laughter.

"Not a chance, Vicente!" proclaimed Vyse proudly. "Sure, the odds aren't very good, but we would never forgive ourselves if we didn't at least try! And besides, this is for the world! And..." He grew very quiet as his smile faded. "…and for Aika."

A "hmph" could be heard on the other side of the PA. "You make me sad, Blue Rogues. So be it. Your fate is sealed." The Jericho's end of the communication line could be heard shutting off as static returned to the PA. Hans promptly shut it off.

The bridge became very serious once again. Looking around, Vyse could tell that everyone was scared, yet determined. They were ready to do what they had to do in order to win the day. Fina was standing close to his chair and he noticed that her hands were trembling. With his good hand, he reached over and took one of Fina's hands into his own. She looked down at him, with a slight look of relief on her face.

"It's okay to be scared, Fina," he said calmly. "But just think: if we win, we never have to worry about this guy again. Wouldn't that be nice?"

She smiled warmly and nodded.

He smiled back and continued. "Once we're all done here, we can go celebrate back at Crescent Isle. Yeah... a big party in honor of our victory and… in memory of Aika. Sound like fun?"

It didn't seem possible before, but once he said this, her eyes looked softer than they ever had before. "Yes Vyse. It sounds very fun."

Vyse nodded and kissed her hand. "Let's do this then."

She blushed fiercely. "Yes. Let's go get them!"

Vyse slowly released her hand and leaned back in his chair. This was it. The moment of truth. It was time to finally take action against the Jericho. He began to issue orders. "Battle stations everyone! You know the drill! Fina, please step into the mana turret and start bolstering our ship with magic. Gilder, take the spare gunner's position! Clara, act as his spotter! Everyone got it?"

His entire crew yelled in unison as they ran about. "Aye, aye, sir!"

Lawrence handed Vyse his scope and turned back to the wheel. Vyse extended the scope out to its full length and trained his sights on Jericho. "Load torpedo tubes 3, 4, 7, and 8!"

A moment passed in relative sentence. Through the speaker tube, Vyse heard Marco say, "Torpedoes loaded and ready to go cap'n!"

Vyse watched the Jericho for a bit longer. He was surprised that it had not attacked yet. Perhaps Vicente was hoping that the Delphinus would give up at the last second, thus avoiding causing any scratches to his new sky-fortress. Vyse grinned at this thought. "A scratch is gonna be the least of his worries once we're through with him." He put down his scope and yelled, "Launch torpedoes 3 and 7!"

The sound of rockets kicking in could be heard as Vyse watched the torpedoes soar past his bridge window. "Torpedoes launched and on the way, cap'n!" said Marco.

Vyse waited for a moment before taking any other actions. He watched the torpedoes as they screamed through the open sky. Once they were about halfway to the Jericho, Vyse yelled, "Launch Torpedoes 4 and 8!"

The same hissing sound of the torpedoes being launched could be heard as Marco said once more, "Torpedoes launched and on the way!" Vyse continued his observation, watching as the first salvo of torpedoes drew closer and closer. It was then that his eyes grew to their widest as he witnessed the launching of roughly twenty torpedoes from the Jericho.

"Evasive action! Lawrence, take evasive action!" yelled Vyse! He turned to the talking tube and switched the talking route to Gilder and Clara's turret. "Guys, we've got around twenty torpedoes coming our way! Switch anti-torpedo sub-cannons and take out as many of those things as you can!"

"Aye aye, Vyse!" said Clara. In the background, Gilder could be heard saying, "Heh. This should be fun," as a few clicks were heard.

The steady firing of four different sub-cannons could be heard as Vyse turned around in his chair to look at Fina in the chamber of the mana turret located at the back of the bridge. The glass door was closed, but through it could be seen a closed-eyes Fina with several magical lights flickering all around her. This chamber allowed her to control many magical operations on the ship at once and allowed her to keep a direct link to any of the moon's blessings she used.

"Fina, how are the enhancements going?" he asked.

Keeping her eyes closed for purposes of concentration, she replied through the speaker, "The bolstering of the ship's defenses is complete for now. In response to the launching of Jericho's torpedoes, I will try to assist Mr. Lawrence by increasing the Delphinus' engine output."

Turning the wheel hard, Lawrence replied, "Thank you, Miss Fina. We're going to need it."

Vyse nodded to her even though she couldn't see it. "Alright. Just do your best, but be careful Fina. That chamber's still experimental."

She could be seen smiling as the mystical lights of the blue moon surrounded her. "Thank you Vyse. I'll be careful."

"Sir!" cried Domingo. "Torpedoes 3 and 7 have hit their mark, but they seem to have only scratched the surface of Jericho! I don't think torpedoes are gonna cut it sir!"

The captain whirled back around in his chair and picked his scope back up. As he investigated the damage caused by the torpedoes Domingo mentioned, Vyse witnessed the impact of torpedoes 4 and 8 on the upper hull of the Jericho. Just as Domingo had said before, the torpedoes seemed to have little effect. The only damages that had been inflicted were some medium scratches and dents as well as hard-to-remove blast-mark stains. Other than that, the torpedoes were doing squat.

He turned his attention to the torpedoes as the ship continued to turn as far away from the torpedoes as possible. Several explosions could be seen as Gilder, Khazim, and Khazim's two assistants destroyed several of the incoming torpedoes with their sub-cannons. Unfortunately, a little less than half of the torpedoes managed to get through the torrential rain of sub-cannon fire.

Vyse quickly set the talking tube to speak with all sections of the ship. "Everyone! Brace for impact!"

"Curses!" yelled Lawrence as he gave the wheel one last hard turn. This last maneuver caused three of the remaining torpedoes to miss their marks but the remainder of them hit dead on. The entire ship shook with the force of a scale-7 earthquake as five consecutive explosions were heard.

Vyse was thrown from his chair, Lawrence fell to the cold, steel floor, and Fina could be seen shaking about inside the mana chamber. Vyse got up as quickly as possible and got back into his chair, switching the talking tube to the engineering room as he did so. "Hans! Damage report!"

Several loud crackles and liquid pouring could be heard as Hans replied back to Vyse. "Captain! We've taken four hits to the hull surrounding the engine room! We've also lost turret number three!"

Vyse's eyes shot open as he quickly replied, "Fix everything that you can!" Without waiting for a response, he opened up communications with turret three. "Salam! Salam! Are you ok?"

Nothing could be heard at first. A moment later, a few coughs were heard before Salam came on and said, "I-I'm okay captain. I saw the torpedo coming my way and got out just in time. The turret's done for though."

Both angry and relieved, Vyse pounded his bad knee as he replied, "Nothing we can do about that. Go spot for Abu, quickly!"

Salam replied back but Vyse wasn't paying attention as he wheeled about to face the mana chamber. "Fina?"

Her eyes were still closed. "I'm fine Vyse, but the ship isn't. Two of the fuel links between the engine and our moonstone reserves have been destroyed and have caused a forty-percent decrease in engine performance. The blue moon can't give us any more speed Vyse. In addition, we've lost one of our four turrets. All eight torpedo tubes seem to be intact however."

Vyse sank back into his chair as he watched Lawrence stand back up. Things weren't looking good. Only one salvo had been fired by each ship and, already, the Delphinus was losing badly. Far-range combat wasn't going to cut it. To win at this rate, Vyse would have to gamble.

"Lawrence," he started. "Full-speed ahead towards Jericho."

Lawrence turned back to his captain with a disbelieving look in his eyes. "I beg your pardon captain, but are you insane? There's no way we can take on that thing considering the damage we just took!"

Even Fina opened her eyes after hearing what Vyse said. She was wondering just what in the world he was thinking. "Vyse? What are you planning?"

Looking at no one in particular. "The only way we're going to win against fire-power and armor like that is to gamble. With the loss of power caused by our most recent hits, we can't use the moonstone cannon until Hans can supply us with enough power. Our only chance to win may be with Fina and the mana turret. We're too far away to hit the Jericho with any spells now, so we'll have to close-in with it. If we can make it long enough to get close enough, we can start blasting it with magic."

Lawrence cocked an eyebrow and wore a worried expression on his face. "Captain Vyse, I don't think-"

He was interrupted by his captain. "Lawrence, this is our only chance. If we retreat, the Jericho will either just hunt us down or go on a killing spree around the islands of Arcadia. We can't allow that to happen. Also, please have faith in Fina." He turned to her with a small smile. "She's the greatest of the moons' priestesses. "If anyone can stop that thing, it's her."

She put her hands over her heart, not sure what to think of such a compliment, given their current circumstances. "Vyse…"

He interrupted her as well. "I know you can do it Fina. I just know it." Vyse switched the talking tube to all areas of the ship and quickly explained the plan. He then began to issue individual orders. "All gunners, switch to main cannons and lay down a suppressing line of fire until you see any signs of torpedoes. If any are seen, switch to sub-cannons and do your best to destroy them before we are struck again. As small as we are, it will be hard for them to hit us with anything other than torpedoes. Marco, I want you to load all eight torpedo tubes and wait for my order to fire. Hans, concentrate all of your efforts on supplying the engine with more power. Urala, please assist Khazim in turret number two as a spotter. All other crew members, report to the engineering room and help Hans as well as you can!"

Around fifteen different voices could be heard yelling "Aye, aye!" all at once. Several sounds of shuffling and bustling could be heard in the backgrounds of all parts of the ship.

Vyse turned back to his helmsman. "Lawrence, please trust me on this one. I need you more than ever now."

The helmsman turned back to the observation window. "Hmph. I don't get paid enough for this." He gave the wheel a slight turn. "As always, I will perform to the best of my abilities, Captain Vyse," he said with no hint of sarcasm in his voice at all.

Vyse turned back to Fina. "Are you ready, Fina?"

She nodded as she closed her eyes once more. "Yes Vyse. I'm ready when you are."

He nodded. "Thank you Fina." He turned back to the observation window. "Alright everyone! Let's do it!"

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Eep! The Delphinus is losing! Is victory even possible at this point! It doesn't look likely, but let's hope that they can somehow pull this off.  
Chapter 10 coming ASAP, so please send me some reviews while you wait. Thank you in advance, and I hope you all are enjoying the story!


	10. Fina vs Jericho

A/N: Huh… not getting' many reviews. Am I losing my touch?

Anyway, since I got at least one review (Thanks for being such a constant and positive reviewer, ShinkuRoze), I'm going to go ahead and write my next chapter. I hope more people come to read this. Although it's not the most popular of my fanfics thus far, it is my favorite and it's the only one I have plans for sequels for.

Here we go! The Delphinus is losing, but Vyse decides to gamble by using his ace in the hole: Fina, Arcadia's most powerful magician. He fully believes that she is the only one with the power to take down Jericho. Will his plan work?

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Chapter 10: Fina vs. Jericho

"Full speed ahead, Lawrence!" Vyse yelled as he threw his good arm forward. He turned to the talking tube nearby and switched the route to the engineering room. "Hans! Give us everything you've got!" He turned back forward and gripped the edges of his chair. "This is it…"

"I'll do my best to put up a magic barrier to help shield us from incoming cannon fire," Fina said through the talking tube in the see-through mana chamber. "I can't guarantee how much it will help though. The Jericho commands a lot of firepower."

As scared as Vyse was, he couldn't help but grin. The rush of all this was making his stomach do flip-flops, giving him a sick, and yet, exciting feeling. "Good enough Fina. Thanks!"

The Delphinus soared at higher than maximum speed, through a handy assist from Fina, towards Jericho amidst a hail of secondary gun fire. On account of their swift movement, most of the shells either missed them completely or were deflected altogether.

"Alright!" Vyse yelled. "Main cannons, open fire!"

Outside the speeding Delphinus, the thundering crash of cannon-fire roared throughout the open skies. The initial volley struck its mark but did little more damage than the first two waves of torpedoes had done.

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"Captain Vicente! No damage has been reported from their last volley of cannon-fire," said the Vice Captain of the Jericho. "Just as before, their attacks are proving to be ineffective."

While most men in his position as captain of the most powerful vessel in the world would've been grinning like madmen by now, Vicente instead wore a very neutral expression on his face. He was preoccupied with thoughts of the charging Delphinus, asking himself questions like "What are they thinking?" or "Is this some kind of trick?" He knew that Vyse wasn't stupid. Despite all of short-comings of the former Valuan Armada, It's not everyday that you see someone escape, not once, but twice from the Grand Fortress. Not only that, but this was the same air pirate that took down Lord Galcian, Admiral Ramirez, and all six of the gigas. Vyse obviously had a plan. Discovering what it was, though, may prove to be difficult… unless, of course, they found out too late.

"Very well," he said in reply to his second-in-command. "Are we having any luck with penetrating their barrier?"

The vice captain shook his head. "Not much sir. Some of the secondary cannon shells have penetrated, but, in such small numbers, secondary cannons won't have much effect."

Vicente nodded. The barrier that was defending the Delphinus was another mystery. Sure, it wouldn't last forever, but what could be generating such a shield? Not even De Loco was in the process of developing such a defense, so it couldn't have been stolen or anything. He highly doubted that anyone onboard Delphinus was capable of developing such a device on their own. Something was up, and he had to figure it out before it was too late.

He turned back to the main observation window. "Continue with the defensive barrage. Should they decide to retreat, send a second volley of torpedoes at them. I'm not going to take any chances."

The vice captain saluted. "Yes sir!"

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"Woo!" Gilder yelled excitedly as another shell roared from his turret. "This is the most fun I've had in a while!"

Clara could only stand-by with wide-eyes and hold her hands close to her. How could Gilder be enjoying this?

"Gilder!" she cried. "How can you be enjoying thi- ah!" She ducked and covered herself as a secondary cannon shell hit the hull area to the right of their turret.

Gilder grinned. "Ya missed!" He pressed the auto-loader button to prepare another shell. Once ready, he gave the cannon's large trigger another pull, letting yet another high-caliber shell fly at the Jericho. "Take that!"

Clara stood back up and stamped her foot. "Gilder! Are you nuts!? How can you not be scared at a time like this?!"

Without turning, he replied, "Who said I wasn't" He pressed the auto-loader button once more.

She tilted her head in surprise at him. As far as she could remember, she had never heard him admit that he was scared. "Gilder?"

Gilder pulled the giant trigger once more, sending another shell soaring. "That's right. Even I'm scared now. But… if I lose my cool, then I won't be able to perform to the best of my abilities. Sure, the turrets aren't doing anything against that thing, but Vyse has asked us to try anyway. He has a plan, and it's our job, not just as crewmates, but as friends to help him out in any way possible."

"Well put," thought Clara to herself. It wasn't terribly often that she saw Gilder like this. His serious side, like his fun-loving side, was cool, calm, and collected. However, unlike the latter side of himself, his serious side exuded an aura of great intelligence. It was but one of the many reasons Clara had fallen for Gilder. "But even so, what's with all the hooting and hollering?"

Gilder turned back to her with a smirk. "Well, might as well have fun while I'm at it, right?"

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"Captain, we're almost in range!" exclaimed Lawrence as he turned the wheel furiously in alternating directions in an effort to dodge the hail of cannon-fire coming from the Jericho.

Vyse nodded. This was it. No turning back now. It was "Do or Die" time. "Alright Lawrence, keep at it! Jericho's going down!" He turned back to the mana chamber. "Fina, I want you to concentrate all of your efforts into creating a spell large enough to take that thing down!"

Not opening her eyes, Fina said through the talk-tube, "If I do that, I'll have to drop our defenses. I can't concentrate on so many things at once."

Vyse nodded. "Roger that. If this works, we won't need the defenses anyway. Even if it doesn't, we probably wouldn't last much longer anyway."

She nodded. "I'll do my best. I'm lowering the barrier now."

The moment that the barrier was dropped, the number of secondary cannon strikes on the ships hull became increasingly larger in quantity. Despite this, the Delphinus continued to scream towards its target. Finally, the moment of truth had arrived.

"Captain! We're within the mana cannon's range. Your orders, sir?" Lawrence asked as he continued to struggle with the wheel.

Vyse took a deep breath. He switched the talking tube route to the three remaining turrets and the torpedo room. "All hands! Launch an all-out assault, torpedoes included! Do not let up!" He switched it off again and turned to Fina. "Okay Fina! Do it!"

Her hands had been clasped in prayer while she was preparing her spell. Once ready she opened her eyes, she threw her arms forward and yelled, "Red Moon! Vanquish our foes who stand before us!"

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"Sir! It's an all-out attack! They're throwing everything they have left at us!" yelled the Vice Captain.

Vicente turned to his Vice Captain, a disapproving look in his eyes as he did so. "Calm down. If this is their last ace, then they're going to lose horribly. Normal weapons will have little effect on the Jericho."

A young man at a strange looking panel nearby interrupted the two. "Sir! I picking up massive mana readings from the Delphinus!"

Vicente waved his arm in an "I don't care" fashion. "It's just their barrier. Either that or they're speeding up their engines. Nothing to worry about."

The young man continued his protest. "But sir! This is much larger than before! Also, I no longer detect the presence of a barrier or an engine boost of any sort!"

Vicente wheeled around to face the young man with a shocked look on his face. "What?!"

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Shortly afterward, a large fireball about the size of a small meteor was brought into existence by the mana cannon atop the bridge of the Delphinus and was sent hurtling at the Jericho. Less than ten seconds later, it, along with a hail of torpedoes and cannon shells impacted into the front side of the Jericho. The flash of light and the sound of the explosion were enough to make one grab their head in pain.

Anyone, that is, except Vyse. The intensity of the light and boom of the explosion pained his eyes and ears to no end but he didn't care. He was going to see this through to the end. "Fina… did you really do it?" he asked himself quietly.

As the light and echoing noise died, everyone uncovered their eyes and ears to see if the Jericho had truly been destroyed. All of their mouths and eyes widened in horror once they did so. The Jericho… was still in one piece. Several small fires had broken out on the hull, but no considerable amount of damage had been caused.

"It… it can't be," Lawrence barely uttered through his own fear.

"Impossible! There's no way that thing could have survived that!" exclaimed the seemingly defeated captain.

A panting Fina was crying as she was lying on the floor of the mana chamber. "I-I'm sorry everyone. I wasn't s-s-strong enough."

The world moved in slow motion as the Jericho launched a full counter-attack on the Delphinus. Without the barrier and the engine boost, the secondary cannons proceeded to land well over a hundred strikes on the hull of the Delphinus. Everyone on board the Delphinus was thrown violently around as the blows to the hull shook everything on board to-and-fro. The world went black.

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Fina awakened on the floor of the bridge, having been thrown from the safety of the mana chamber. Looking around, she saw that no one on the bridge was moving except for Lawrence who somehow was on his knees, steering the ship in a very tight circle around the Jericho, perhaps to give the ship defilade from the sky fortress' cannons. Looking around, she saw Vyse nearby… with a bleeding wound on his head.

She feebly crawled over to Vyse, sobbing as she did so. "Vyse… no, please… you… you can't…"

She reached him and ran her hands over him, searching for any signs of life, short of a pulse since she had never taken one before. "…be… dead."

Lawrence turned slightly to Fina, who had just now noticed that she was there. "Miss Fina, I'm sorry, but I think we're done for. All I can do here is delay the inevitable." He normally wasn't the sensitive type, being a mercenary and all, but even he was heart-broken by the look that Fina gave him after she thought Vyse was dead. "Miss Fina, I'm terribly sorry about Vyse. I… I just don't have the words." He took a deep breath and went back to being a professional. If he was going to die, he was going to do it like a professional. All I can say is that you are now the captain by default. I am still under contract, and shall serve you until the end if necessary."

Fina hugged Vyse close to her body, let her tears run onto his sweaty and slightly bloody face. She brushed his now uncombed bangs aside did what she thought was wrong earlier by kissing him gently on the forehead. "First Aika… now Vyse and… and Gilder, Clara, and everyone else. This has to be a nightmare… it just has to be." She set him down as gently as possible and stood up. She looked back down at his fallen body. "Vyse… I can't live in a world without you," she whispered as she walked away. "This one is for you."

She walked over to Lawrence and whispered a few words as a green aura surrounded her. "Green Moon… please bless this man." Just as before with Vyse, Lawrence's wounds healed and his pain slowly faded away. She helped him to stand up.

"Thank you Miss Fina," he said with a small bow. "I am grateful for your kindness."

Fina looked out of the busted observation window that lead directly to the main deck and stared at the Jericho as they circled around it. She walked towards the broken window slowly and gracefully. "Mr. Lawrence, your first and last order is to pull away from Jericho and turn us around so that we are facing it. Then, if they are still operational, I want you to take one of the life-boats and try to escape. There's no sense in you dying too."

Even Lawrence couldn't take this. She was going to go down with the ship and there was nothing he could do or say to change her mind. An order was an order but… "…as you wish, Miss Fina. It… has truly been an honor to serve you and Captain Vyse," he said quietly as he gave the wheel a hard turn.

She turned back once with a very small smile on her face. "Thank you for everything Lawrence. We couldn't have had a better helmsman. I wish you luck in all your future journeys." She turned back around and walked out on the deck through the shattered window.

A few sub-cannons opened fire from the Jericho on the Delphinus as it attempted to get away. The Delphinus suffered only a few hits as they reached a minimum combat distance and Lawrence spun the ship around.

He walked slowly away from the wheel as he saw the motionless Fina standing on the deck with her head bowed and her hands clasped together in prayer. "Farewell… Fina."

He walked past the body of Vyse and stopped dead in his tracks. He turned back around and knelt down next to Vyse. Something didn't feel right. None of his wounds seemed very serious upon closer inspection and he had begun to wonder if Fina had properly checked his vital signs. He took the glove off of his right hand and put the middle and index fingers to his captain's throat and checked for a pulse. His eyes shot open. "Oh no…" he whispered as he stood back up and ran to the shattered window. "Fina! MISS FINA!! Vyse is still alive! You don't ha-"

"Silver Moon!" Fina cried to the heavens as she threw her arms upward. "Please, help me in my darkest hour! For the sake of the world, I beg you! Stop the Jericho! **_PLEASE!!!_**" Her tears fell to the deck as kept her arms suspended high in the air.

Lawrence was doing his best to get Fina's attention but was having no luck in doing so. "Miss Fina!" he yelled frantically. At this point, he knew he had to take matters into his own hands if he was going to save her and Captain Vyse as well. He stepped out onto the deck, but only took a few steps before he stopped suddenly as something caught his attention out of the corner of his eye. He looked upward and his mouth dropped as he witnessed the source of his attention: from the silver moon, what appeared to be a meteor, no, a moonstone was screaming downward. This one was larger than normal and was even bigger than the fireball Fina had created earlier.

He watched as the moonstone continued on its course and realized that the Jericho was in its path! He began putting the pieces together. "Did Fina call this? Does she really have that kind of power?"

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Vicente smiled a victorious smile as he saw the dormant Delphinus floating with easy firing range of the Jericho. "Heh… it's over. Farewell… Vyse the Legend! Farewell to the Blue Rogues!" He turned to his vice captain. "Open fire! Hold nothing back! I want that ship to be pulverized into mere atoms!"

Before the vice captain could reply, the young man at the panel interrupted them again. "Sir! There's an immense object coming straight at us!"

He turned to the young man. "Impossible! The Delphinus isn't returning fire and there are no other ships to be seen anywhere!"

The young man waved his arms upward frantically. "Not in the open skies sir, but from… from… the moon!"

The vice captain stepped forward and said, "Ridiculous! How could something attack us from… the… moon…" It was then that he realized what was going on. He turned to Vicente who must've realized it before he himself had, for he was already staring towards the upper skies.

"…the rains?" the vice captain asked fearfully.

Vicente did not turn to him. "Fu-"

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It wasn't quite the rains… but it was enough. The meteor-like moonstone just missed the bridge as it ripped through and completely annihilated the lower half of the Jericho. It continued its descent towards Deep Sky and took the remains of the lower half of Jericho with it.

Lawrence fell backward and looked at the destruction. "By the moons!!" He looked back toward Fina who looked as calm as could be. She slowly brought her arms back down and watched as the remaining half of Jericho slowly fell towards Deep Sky. "What power," he thought to himself. "There's no doubt about it. She truly is the most powerful being in Arcadia. Not even Ramirez could bring down the rains without Soltis or the Moon Crystals. What brought out so much power from within her? Was it…"

As he stood up, another man limped past him and Lawrence looked on as he did so. "…heh. Today is just full of miracles."

The man walked up to the unsuspecting Fina and embraced her with his bloodied arms. "Fina…" he whispered in her ear.

She turned around in surprise and could have died from pure joy when she saw who it was. "Vyse! Y-you're alive! I-I-I thought you were…"

"Dead?" he said, completing her sentence with a smile. "Not a chance. I still have too much to live for." He held her as tightly as possible. "Thank you Fina. You've saved us all."

She smiled back at him. "Vyse, I-"

"Captain Vyse! Miss Fina! Look!" yelled Lawrence. "A heavy scout-class cruiser is emerging from the remains of Jericho! It must be an escape ship!"

From inside the bridge, Vicente's voice crackled over the damaged communications panel. "Damn you Blue Rogues! And damn that woman that destroyed my fortress! You'll pay for this! It isn't over yet!"

The cruiser turned in the direction of the Delphinus and soared at top speed toward it. It seemed to have every intention of destroying the seemingly defenseless Delphinus.

"No!" yelled Fina as she clasped her hands together again. She glowed once more, but it quickly died as she fell to the deck in utter exhaustion. " huff huff I-I can't do anything. I have no energy left. I'm sorry Vyse…"

Vyse kneeled down and held her close to his chest. "Close your eyes Fina. It's best if we don't look." Together, they closed their eyes as Lawrence stood motionless as he watched the cruiser approach them.

The boom of a large cannon echoed through the skies but it was not from the cruiser. Rather, it had come from the Delphinus. Lawrence couldn't believe his eyes when he saw the shell hit the front hull of the cruiser, causing it to shake violently and leaving a considerable hole in the shell's wake.

Lawrence looked back to the bridge and saw that everyone who was in there before was up and more-or-less about. From the talking-tube panel next to the captain's chair, Gilder and Clara both could be heard yelling, "Woo! We got 'em!"

Vyse and Fina opened their eyes in joy as they heard their voices. "They're alive!" they said together. They both looked to the bridge and saw what Lawrence had seen. "And they're alive too!" said Fina happily.

"Ahh! Damnit!" cried Vicente through the communications panel. "Retreat! Retreat!" The cruiser promptly turned around and headed towards Nasrean lands.

Lawrence helped the two young pirates up. "Your orders?"

Fina and Lawrence got to either side of Vyse and helped in limp back into the bridge. He thought for a moment and looked up. "Follow them."

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The pursuit was very slow and took them past both Maramba and Nasrad. The skies gradually grew to a crimson shade of red as they neared the resort city of Esparanza, the city of reborn hope.

"Captain Vyse," started Lawrence, "we've reached the city of Esparanza but the cruiser is still going. It looks like… it looks like it's heading for the Dark Rift."

A slightly bandaged Gilder brought a hand to his chin. "What is he thinking? His ship won't make it through the rift in that condition."

"He's not going completely through it," stated Vyse, matter-of-factly. "My guess is that he's going to hide in the rift until he can repair his ship. THEN he might try to escape through Yafutoma. We can't give him that chance."

Clara turned to Vyse. "But how? The Delphinus is in worse shape than that cruiser. We'll have less of a chance getting through the Dark Rift than they will."

"Simple," said Vyse in the same manner as before. "Remember that ship we captured earlier? I'll send a message to Crescent Island and have them bring the ship to Esparanza along with a repair crew. By tomorrow morning, we should be able to continue our pursuit while the Delphinus is being repaired."

Fina looked up from her task of healing the injuries of her fellow crewmates. "Good idea Vyse, but what are we going to do until then?"

Vyse put his hand to the bandage on his head. "We rest in Esparanza. Let's enjoy ourselves. I think we've all earned it."

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As the sun began to set over the horizon, the party of four walked out of one of the many fine restaurants that littered the tourist map of Esparanza. The food was good, but the fact they were given free meals in thanks for destroying the possible Neo-Valuan scourge before it ever had a chance to make any progress made it even better.

"Whew! Good eatin'!" Gilder exclaimed as he rubbed his stomach. "Nothing like a good plate of Dark Sardis and Rice and a bottle of Blue Loqua to ease one's stress and hunger!" He then let out an embarrassingly loud belch.

Everyone couldn't help but laugh at this. "Hehe. Piggy!" said Clara.

Vyse looked over at Fina and Cupil. "Heh… even Cupil ate well!"

"Cuu-urp!" Cupil half-said and half-belched.

Fina giggled. "Silly Cupil."

Clara looked all around her, taking in the lights of the city that were just now flickering to life. "Well then. What should we do now?"

"I feel like going for a walk," Vyse said as he stretched. "Looks like a nice night for it."

Fina turned to him. "Umm… can I come with you?"

Vyse nodded. "Of course you can! You're always welcome around me."

She blushed and bowed slightly. "T-thank you Vyse."

Vyse smiled at her and turned to a grinning Gilder and Clara. "What about you two?"

Gilder spoke first. "Eh, I'm a bit tired actually. Think I may turn in early tonight."

Clara nodded in agreement. "Same here. Might do a little star-gazing before I turn in though. Despite the presence of the Dark Lift, I hear that the stars situated above it are really pretty, for whatever reason."

Vyse nodded to them. "Alright then, I guess we split paths here. I guess I'll see you both tomorrow then?"

They both nodded. "Right," said Gilder. "See ya tomorrow then. Don't stay up too late, ok?"

Vyse shot Gilder a thumbs-up. "Gotcha."

Clara waved to them. "Good-night you two! And…" She giggled. "Good luck Fina!"

Fina looked at her. "Huh?"

Clara began to walk after Gilder. "Oh nothing! Later!"

Fina turned to Vyse. "What did she mean, Vyse?"

Vyse grinned at shook his head at their departing friends. "Oh nothing. Just Clara being… silly." He turned back to her. "Come on, let's go. It's gonna be a nice night." He put his arm around her and began to walk with her.

She looked up at him and smiled without him knowing. As they walked, she laid her head down to rest on Vyse's shoulder. She closed her eyes. "Moons…" she whispered to herself. "Thank you… for saving Vyse."

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Frickin' wow! 4,000 words! My longest chapter for any story ever! Hope you all enjoyed it! Anyway, the next chapters will detail what each group did while in town. First will be Vyse and Fina and then comes Gilder and Clara. Fluffy stuff is on the way ASAP! Please review!


	11. Esperanza Hermosa Part 1

A/N: Sorry for making you wait so long for an update! I've been running into mental roadblocks concerning how I should go about doing this chapter. I've finally decided on a way and I HOPE that everyone likes it!

Anyway, this chapter and the next will share the same name but will be divided into two parts: One for Vyse and Fina and one for Gilder and Clara. I imagine the Vyse and Fina half will be better, but I hope everyone enjoys both of them all the same.

So this is it folks, the moment you've all been waiting for (I think). Having just barely escaped the clutches of death (thanks to Fina), our 4 heroes realize that, if the Delphinus could be stopped by Vicente, how would their new but far more crappy ship fair against them? Having but one night to rest before they plunge into the Dark Rift, out heroes take this chance to spend some time with those they love and care for most. After-all, what if they were to not come back? Would they truly want their untold feelings to die with them? We first join Vyse and Fina as they stroll about the resort city of Esparanza…

Note: The title is Spanish for "Beautiful Hope". Since the city of Esperanza means "Hope", I thought it would be appropriate to have a Spanish title.

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Chapter 11: Esperanza Hermosa, Part 1

As the sun sank behind the horizon, the city of Esperanza was illuminated by beautiful twilight originating from a night sky being slowly littered by hundreds of stars. The sound of fine Valuans music filled the air, emanating from the many pubs the lined the streets of the once hopeless city. The young couple of Vyse and Fina stood on a bridge that crossed a small section of land-less sky and took the time to take in all the sights and sounds of the city. It was truly amazing what a year of hard work and hope-filled hearts could do to what was once such a desolate city. Not even the ominous Dark Rift could stop the progression of the city. Ever since the Delphinus' miraculous journey through the rift a year ago, work had begun on producing ships that safely traverse the Dark Rift with little or no complications. Then, a trade route could be opened to Yafutoma and the city would proper even further. All of this was truly a sight to behold.

Vyse stretched his arms and took a deep breath of the crisp night air. His body was still aching, especially where he had been shot earlier in the elbow and the knee, but, thanks to Fina's healing magiks, he was able to function normally with only little difficulty. He looked over to his right to see a closed-eyes Fina with her hands brought together at her chest, as if she was in prayer. He wanted to say something but decided against it, not wanting to disturb her. It was only when he turned fully in her direction that he noticed her true beauty. Bathed in the light of the Red Moon, it stood out even more. The Silvite half of her Blue Rogue outfit sparkled in its light, giving her a very mystical look. A few passers-by couldn't help but gaze at her as they walked by. How could they resist? She was truly a sight to behold.

Fina opened her eyes, perhaps indicating that she was done. Vyse put his hand on her left shoulder and said, "Which prayer was that?"

Her eyes opened a bit more widely as she heard this. She turned to him as light-red hues crossed her soft cheeks. "Oh! I, um… I made this one up. I was just… just thanking the moons for helping us and healing you."

He smiled warmly and moved to embrace her. His feelings for her were just too strong now to resist. He had to share his feelings with her sometime tonight. If he waited until after tomorrow, well… it might be too late then. He was more or less sure that she felt the same way, judging by the way she had been acting these past few days and even before Aika was killed, so he was far from fearing rejection. Rather, he just wanted to wait just the right moment.

He pulled back a bit and gazed lovingly into her beautiful green eyes; eyes that shone with the purity of her soul. Her smile exuded the same sense of purity and warmth that her eyes gave him. Surprisingly, Vyse began to have doubts after-all concerning what he wanted to tell her. It wasn't that he didn't want to or that he was scared. Far from either, in fact. He began to wonder if he even deserved to be with someone as wondrous as Fina. Of course, they were both very good people and they shared, more-or-less, the same goals in life. What worried him this time was what had always worried him ever since he found out she was a Silvite: he felt that she was far too pure for this world, and he was afraid that he might ruin that purity by bringing her even further into his own life.

He looked upward at the Red Moon and the stars beyond it as he began to question himself. Here he was, an Arcadian air pirate, a man that robbed ships and has engaged in perhaps needless violence several times in the past (even if good intentions were driving these actions), and he wanted to confess his love for a girl who, until a year ago, had never known of sadness, hate, violence, and all of the other bad things that occurred in Arcadia on a daily basis. His wanting to confess to Fina seemed more like a question of ethics or morality than anything else. Was it selfish to want a girl who, he felt, was far better a person than he could ever be? Would the same hold true even if she had the same feelings for him? "Aika… what should I do?" he asked himself.

Within himself, he heard what he thought he would never hear again: Aika's voice. "Vyse, you big dope! Of course you should! What's with the hesitation?"

Hearing something like this, most people would've been horrified or at least a bit more surprised than he acted in response to her. He didn't think of it at the time, but he had acted like this was more of a common thing. "Well… surely there's someone out there better for her, right?"

Aika's familiar, high-pitched laugh rang through his head. "Like who? You've known her longer than anyone else in Arcadia and you've treated her like she was your little sister. Besides, I'm sure she feels the same way about you! And, heh…" She chuckled again. "If you don't pick her up, some other scummy air pirate will!"

The voice vanished leaving a now-bewildered Vyse staring into space as Fina looked at him with concern. "Bah… who are you calling a scummy air pirate?" he said to himself as he shook his head.

Fina tilted her head a bit. "Vyse? Are you ok? You looked lost for a second."

Vyse scratched his head as he tried to think of an excuse. "Ah, nothing. I was just… ah…" He stopped for a moment to think. "I was just… admiring your beauty and got "lost" while doing so." He brushed some of her hair aside and smiled. "I mean… how could anyone not?"

Fina blushed fiercely and lowered her head. "Why Vyse… thank you. That's very kind of you. I've never heard you say that before."

Yes, it was a half-fib. Of course she was beautiful, but that wasn't what he was thinking about. He would leave it at that though, for if he told her that he heard Aika's voice (which only now was spooking him), he might worry her. "Best to leave things as they are, I suppose," he thought.

A certain piece of music caught his attention and he looked far to the right of the bridge. It was a festival, and looked to be full of music, dancing, and other general fun. Vyse held a blushing Fina's hand and pulled lightly on it. "Come on Fina! Let's go have some fun before we turn in tonight!"

She allowed herself to be pulled away and giggled as she did so. "Okay Vyse. Lead on!" With that, the young couple ran to the festival grounds and proceeded to have some fun.

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Vyse stepped out of the shower and dried himself off before putting on some night clothes and a fine bathrobe, provided by the hotel they were staying at. It felt good to be clean, especially after all the fighting they had just been through. The jets of hot water had especially felt good on his aching muscles and his healing wounds. Outside of the bathroom, the opening of the door leading to the balcony could be heard and Vyse figured that Fina wanted to let the night air dry her hair. Due to the lack of rooms, Vyse and Fina had to share a room as did Clara and Gilder. He grabbed his dirty clothes and glass eye-patch and stepped out of the bathroom. He spotted a hotel worker passing by their room outside and asked for him to have his clothes washed before tomorrow morning. Nodding, the worker took the clothes and walked back down the hall.

He put the eye-patch on the nightstand next to his bed when a beautiful sound came to his ears: Fina's voice. She was singing beautifully in Silvite, her native language that he had only heard her use a few times before and they were always when she was singing. He looked out at the balcony and saw Fina, barefoot and in a white bathrobe, singing this lovely song as her unhindered and slowly drying shoulder-length blonde hair flowed in the wind, much like waves upon a moon lake caused by a light gale. It wasn't often that he saw her without her veil or her blue bandanna, but every time he did, he enjoyed it. In these rare moments, she looked more like a princess from some far-off land rather than just a priestess from one of the moon's shrines. No, calling her this simply didn't do her justice. She was more like… an angel.

He continued to gaze at her and once again began to doubt if he really deserved her. He lowered his head and closed his eyes. If he was going to tell her, it had to be now. With the constant put-downs he was giving himself, could he really do this without any sort of guilt?

Within his head, he could hear Aika's voice once again. "Snap out of it, stupid! What are you waiting for?"

Vyse grumbled to himself. "Hmph. Well that wasn't very nice. I'm just… I dunno."

Aika's voice softened as she continued. "I know Vyse. You just want what's best for her, as do I. In my heart though, I know that you are the best thing for her. She needs you Vyse… and you need her."

Vyse opened his eyes and looked upward, back at Fina. Gazing at her, Aika spoke again. "Look at her, Vyse. "Isn't she beautiful?"

He nodded. "Yeah. Very."

Aika's voice faded once more as she said "Go get her Vyse, or I'll never forgive you!"

Vyse's eyes snapped open… again? He looked around and the scene was the same as before. Was he dreaming? Is this the same thing that happened before? That would be the only explanation for hearing Aika's voice, not once, but twice. It would also explain why Fina didn't hear her either time, or Vyse, for that matter, when he was replying back to Aika.

"Now or never," he told himself as he shook his head. He took only a single step before Cupil began to buzz around his head. This gave him an idea. Something cutesy would be sure to make Fina happy if nothing else did. "Hey Cupil. C'mere a sec."

"Cuu!" said Cupil as it edged closer to Vyse.

Vyse pulled Cupil a little closer and whispered something into what he figured was its ear area. He made a few hand motions and then pulled back. "Okay Cupil. You got that?"

"Cuup!" said Cupil seemingly affirmatively.

"Good," said Vyse as he went over to a small bag he had brought with him from the Delphinus. He dug in it for a moment and eventually produced a very small red moonstone. He threw it to Cupil and the little creature both caught and ate it in one swift motion. Once it was ingested, the stone turned Cupil into a bright shade of red.

Satisfied, Vyse nodded. "Okay Cupil. Wait for my signal." Vyse walked toward the balcony and quietly approached the singing Fina. Without saying a word, Vyse put a hand on her right shoulder. This startled Fina, for she immediately stopped singing and gasped.

She turned around only to see a very clean Vyse. "Oh, Vyse! I'm sorry! You startled me!"

Vyse laughed warm-heartedly. "No, no, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to startle you."

Fina smiled warmly at him. "I-It's okay Vyse."

Vyse took a step forward and put his hands on the railing of the balcony. "That was a pretty song, Fina. Very calming. You have a very beautiful voice."

Fina blushed fiercely and turned to face the same direction that he was. "T-thank you very much, Vyse." She gazed out towards the Dark Rift and shivered. "Tomorrow, we have to go back into the rift. I never thought we'd have to go back into that awful place." She looked down at her uncovered feet. "And this time, we won't have the Delphinus to keep us safe from the elements within."

Vyse looked over at Fina and noticed that she was shivering; shivering in fear. He took her into his arms and said, "I know Fina. It's going to be very dangerous. It will perhaps be more relatively dangerous than our fight against Jericho. We…" He paused for a moment and took a deep breath. "We may not come back this time. I know I've asked you this a hundred times before, but I'm going to ask again anyway: Are you sure you want to come with us?"

Fina laid her head on Vyse's chest and breathed deeply. "Of course. I'll never leave you."

Vyse was gladdened by these words. "Thank you Fina. I always worry about you, but I'm glad you're coming with us. I feel much stronger when you're near me."

Hearing these words, Fina's mind trailed back to their first fight against Vicente inside Dangrel Island. She thought back to when he had somehow deflected the bullet that was meant to end her life with his blade. She couldn't understand how it was possible before, but now… now she thought she had an idea. Maybe his affection for her was so great that it really did give him added strength. Was he really that determined to protect her no matter what?

Her mind then trailed back to shortly before that incident when they were standing before the door that led to Jericho's hanger. She had wanted to tell him just how she felt, but he assured her that she could tell him later. In fact, he had promised her. With things being calm for the time being and seeing the danger that awaited them tomorrow, she felt that she had no choice but to confess to him now.

She pulled partially away from him and looked into his eyes. "Vyse, I-I've got something I… I want to tell you." Vyse looked as if he was going to say something but Fina spoke again before he could. As she did, Vyse put one hand behind his back and made some sort of motion with it. Cupil saw this and began edging closer to the couple. "Vyse, since we may not get another chance like this, I… um… I just wanted to tell you that… ah… I… l-lo… lo-…"

"I love you Fina," said Vyse in an attempt to take the stress off of her. A very surprised Fina opened her eyes to their fullest and stared at Vyse.

"Cuu!" exclaimed Cupil as it came into Fina's view. Once it was, it formed itself into a little floating heart, its eyes near the top of the curves. (A/N: Tell me that isn't cute!).

Fina kept looking back and forth between Cupil and Vyse. She couldn't believe it! He did love her! Her happiness was boundless, and it showed through her tearful eyes. Too happy to express herself in words, she jumped once and threw her slender arms around Vyse's neck. "Oh Vyse! I… I don't know what to say! I wanted to say that to you for so long and I… well… I didn't know if I could do it right."

Vyse ran his hand lovingly through Fina's slightly damp hair. "Really? Well, now's your chance if you want to take it." He wiped the tears from her eyes. "You don't have to though. Just your reaction is enough to make anyone happy."

Fina gazed lovingly into his eyes. Finally, she could talk to him without hesitation. Now that she knew that the feelings were mutual, there was no need for it after-all. "Vyse, I love you too… with all my heart and soul. I never want to leave your side."

They drew closer together and the lips of the two young lovers finally came together in perfect harmony. If anyone had been watching, they would have described the kiss as "perfect". A very refreshing breeze blew past them as they pulled slowly away from each other. They said nothing as they became lost in one-another's eyes and brushed the other's cheeks with their hands.

"Cuu!" exclaimed Cupil happily as it nuzzled Fina's other cheek.

Vyse laughed. "Looks like Cupil is happy too."

Fina giggled as Cupil rubbed against her. "Cupil, you're so funny."

"Woo-hoo! Way to go guys! All right!" yelled two other voices not very far away.

Stunned, Vyse and Fina turned slowly in the direction of the voices. What they saw brought a deep shade of red to both of the young lovers' cheeks: a laughing Gilder and Clara who were watching the whole ordeal from the balcony of their own room, just two doors down from their own. Their embarrassment rose to sky-high levels when it suddenly occurred to both Vyse and Fina that their friends had been watching the entire time.

Vyse shook his fist in their direction. "Hey! Would it hurt to give us a little privacy! Yeesh!" The two joined hands and walked back inside with Cupil following close behind.

Vyse closed the door behind them and the two stood for a moment without saying a word as they let heat of embarrassment cool down in their cheeks.

"Ahem. Well, ah…" started Vyse. "I suppose we should get some sleep. Tomorrow's gonna be another big day. Hopefully, after this, it will be all over."

Fina nodded to her new-found lover. "O-okay Vyse." She turned off all of the lights and pulled the blankets back on her own bed. Vyse did the same to his own bed.

Once they were situated, Fina turned in the direction of Vyse's bed and said, "Vyse?"

He turned to her. "Yes Fina?"

She reached her hand out and was almost able to touch his bed. "I love you Vyse."

Seeing this, he reached out and held hands with her. "I love you too, Fina."

The lovers' hands never broke apart, even as they fell into a world of dreams… together.

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And there we go! Isn't love grand? Again, I'm sorry for the long time between updates, but I hope this chapter was worth the wait. Anyway, next comes Gilder and Clara's half of the night in Esperanza. Hope you enjoy it as well! Steve


	12. Esperanza Hermosa, Part 2

A/N: And now for the chapter I had not ORIGINALLY planned for. I had the entire story planned out when I first started writing my first chapter, but perhaps around chapter 4, I got the idea to do a little something Gilder and Clara. My first thought was to make it a one-shot side-story fic. However, I instead decided to incorporate it into Under the Sky So Blue. 'sides, if everyone still wants to see more of the Silver and Blue saga (of which Under the Sky So Blue is the first "book"), then, heh… Gilder and Clara will have a much larger role later on.

Anyway, I hope no one was expecting too much fluff outta this chapter. Don't worry. It'll be good, but… well… you'll see. On with the show!

And as always, thank you very kindly for all of your reviews! Thanks to you all, after doing a quick scan of other stories, I seem to be already in the top 5-ish for number of reviews for a SoA story. I'll do my best to earn any further reviews!

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Chapter 12: Esperanza Hermosa, Part 2

A foam dart struck the bulls-eye on a tiny, moving target and a buzzer went off. The owner of the game stand could only stand by and scratch his head as he watched his current customer hit bulls-eye after bulls-eye. At this rate, he would be cleaned out of prizes in no time. Behind the counter was an already impressive pile of various prizes that the customer had won, and its growth did look as if it would be stunted anytime soon.

This was just too much. "Unbelievable sir. Are you sure you've never fired a gun before?"

Gilder grinned. "Never. "I'm just a deck-hand for Cap'n Vyse." He was traveling incognito simply because he didn't feel like dealing with any "Gilder Groupies" or people who just wanted an autograph. He ditched his gun belts, red coat, and amber-tinted shades in favor of a white, long-sleeved button shirt, a Blue Rogues bandanna, and black-tinted shades. This truly did give him the appearance of something no better than a deckhand, and that's just the way he liked it. He just wanted to have a fun, yet quiet, night with Clara.

He fired another dart and, once again, struck a bulls-eye. "My only job is to swab the decks all day. People have always told me that I was lucky though."

Clara, also traveling incognito, giggled beside him. "Got that right!" She ditched her complete outfit, shoes included, and instead went with a very light get-up. It was a warm night, so she wore a white, short-sleeve t-shirt and a matching pair of jean-shorts to go with it. In addition, she wore sandals and let her hair drape down her back as opposed to tying it up as she normally did. She lovingly nuzzled his shoulder and he merely rolled his eyes, still grinning.

The owner of the game stand only shook his head. "I see. It's just that, ah… you remind me of someone."

Gilder took aim at another target. "Oh?" He fired, hitting yet another bulls-eye. "Who would that be?"

The owner looked to either side of him, possibly making sure that no one else was listening in. He leaned forward and whispered, "You remind me of that scoundrel, Gilder. You know, the captain of the Claudia?"

Clara wanted to giggle and Gilder wanted to protest but both held back. Instead, Clara leaned forward and whispered, "You mean that dopey jerk with the big guns?"

The man nodded. "Aye. He also has this crazy woman hanging onto him all the time. If she's not holding on, she's chasing him. Pretty nutty if you ask me."

Clara's eyes shot open and she felt the sudden urge to initiate several acts of violence against the game-keeper. Upon hearing this, Gilder had put the foam dart-gun on the counter, turned around, and chuckled to himself. "Oh **_really_**? Is that right?"

The man nodded, quite oblivious as to why his customers were acting the way that they were. "Yeah, that's right. By the way ma'am, are you ok? Your face is really red."

Clara did her best to cool down, but was having quite a bit of difficulty in doing so. "Ah, no."

Gilder turned back around and leaned forward to speak with the game-keeper. "Don't mind her. Just hearing about that woman makes her mad. Knowing what we know about "Clara", can you blame her? I mean that woman is a total nutcase!"

The man shook his head again while the turned Clara looked as if her head was going to explode. "Of course not sir. Anyway, putting that aside, will you be playing another game, sir?"

Gilder shook his head. He was starting to feel bad about hiding his identity and using his skill with guns to win so many prizes. "Nah, that's okay. That's enough for one day." He looked at the pile of prizes and decided to take only one. Other than being morally right, he couldn't carry that much stuff anyway. He spotted a very cute teddy bear holding a heart with both of its paws and thought it'd make a cute little gift for Clara. He pointed to the bear and said, "I'll just take that one. That should be more than enough for me."

The owner of the stand heaved a sigh of relief and bent over to pick up the bear. He set it on the counter and said, "Here you go, sir. Good shooting today."

Gilder thanked the man, picked up his prize, and walked a bit away. Clara made every attempt to turn away from him, still angry at him for what he and the game-keeper said about her (despite the fact that she had talked about him first, but y'know…). He hid the bear behind his back with one hand and tapped on her slender shoulder with his other hand. "Hey Clara," he whispered, doing his best to keep quiet.

Clara wheeled around, letting the expression on her face explain just how mad she was. "Hmph! What do you want now, you jerk?"

Gilder smiled and brought the bear back around and held it with both hands. "This is for you. Hope you like it."

Clara's seething anger immediately went away when she saw the cute little bear. Her heart melted and a very large smile crossed her lips as she took the bear, spun around once, and cuddled it as she closed her eyes. "Oh Gilder! I love it!"

Gilder froze as everyone turned towards them. Clara had said his name a bit too loudly and didn't realize it until it was too late. "Uh… oh…" she said in a very low tone, feeling very sheepish now.

Several people around them said things like, "Gilder? THE Gilder?" and "Look everybody! It's Gilder!" A small group of girls immediately screamed with glee when they heard his name. "Gilder! Gilder! Marry us!" they cried as they walked towards him and Clara.

The game-keeper blinked in disbelief as he tried to piece this together. "Wait, wait… if that's Gilder, then she must be..." His eyes shot open. "Then that makes that weird lady Clara!"

A number of whispers ran through the crowd. "What? That's Clara?" and "What's he doing hanging out with her? I thought he always tried to avoid her," were among the most common things said.

Clara grew furious again and pointed at the game-keeper. "Hey! Who you calling weird!" Realizing what she had just said, she clasped her hands over her mouth. If her cover wasn't blown before, it was now.

The Gilder groupies immediately took notice of this and scoffed. "Clara? Ugh! What's SHE doing with him? And look at that outfit!"

Clara stomped her foot and yelled back. "Shut up! He's a lot better off with me than with a bunch of floozies like yourselves!"

The groupies, obviously very upset with her last comment, began walking towards them. "How dare you!"

Gilder shrugged his shoulders and sighed. "It's so hard being popular." He grabbed Clara's free hand and began dragging her away at a very quick pace. "C'mon Clara! Looks like our little night of fun has come to an abrupt end!"

Following close behind him, Clara could not help but smile. His protectiveness of her had developed quite greatly over the past few days, and she liked it. She had always known how much he cared for her, but his unwillingness to marry her was always quite frustrating to her. She never understood why he didn't want to, but tonight… tonight she was going to find out.

-

"Whew!" said Gilder as he closed the door to their hotel room. "Despite being very tiring, that chase was actually kinda fun!"

Clara was leaning over, trying to catch her breath. "E-easy for you to say! I haven't ran like that in a while!"

Gilder grinned. "Well y'know, if you stayed in tip-top condition like myself all the time…"

Clara waved him away and walked towards the open balcony of their room. "Oh puh-lease! It's completely different when you're the one being dragged around!" She rested her free hand on the rails as she continued to catch her breath, still holding on to her teddy bear.

"Heh," laughed Gilder as he followed Clara. He slid up next to her and put his hand on her shoulder. "Hey, I'm sorry that our night was ruined. I was looking forward to a night with just the two of us."

Still breathing a bit heavily, Clara looked up at Gilder and smiled. "A-aww, thank you Gilder. This was my fault though. If I w-would've not talked so loud, then we c-could've kept having fun. Besides…" She proudly held up her teddy bear. "I got a souvenir."

Gilder smiled back at her. "I'm glad you like it." He looked into her eyes for a moment and then laughed. "Y'know, in retrospect, I can't believe our costumes actually fooled everyone."

She giggled. "Yeah. I thought everyone would recognize you for sure. I mean, at least I did my hair differently."

"Heh," he said in reply. "I can see why no one recognized you though."

Interested, Clara asked, "Why's that?"

He snickered and said, "'Cuz when everyone thinks of "that crazy lady, Clara", they probably picture with that pink dress you always wear."

She knew he was only kidding, but she decided to punch him in the arm anyway. "Hey!" She sighed and put her free hand back on the railing. "Gilder, I want to ask you something."

"Sure," he replied. "What's on your mind?"

She took a deep breath and gazed out at the beautiful sky ahead of her. Not even the Dark Rift could ruin this scene for her. She held the teddy bear close to her chest and asked, "Gilder, you, ah… care about me, right?"

Gilder smiled warmly. "Of course I do. Why wouldn't I?"

"So far, so good," she thought to herself as she posed the next question. "Then why won't you marry me?" She looked at him with a half-hurt look in her eyes.

Gilder sighed and put his hands on the railing. He wasn't prepared for this question, even though he knew the answer. "Clara, I don't want you to take this the wrong way, but…" He took a deep breath and wondered if what he was about to say would hurt her.

Clara assumed the worst but did her best to not show it. "But what?"

"Here goes nothing," he thought to himself. "Clara, I-… I just don't want to settle down. Not yet anyway. Too much adventure still flows through my veins. I'm still fairly young and there's still so much of the world I want to see. I'm… I'm sorry Clara."

Clara's smile took Gilder completely by surprise. "Is that all?"

Scratching his head in confusion, Gilder thought for a moment. "Er… yeah, I think so. Why do you look so happy though?"

She giggled and punched him in the arm again. "Silly! Who says we have to settle down?"

Now he was _really_ confused. What was she getting at? "Uh? Isn't that the whole purpose of getting married?"

She shook her head happily. "Traditionally, yes. However, it's not like it's required or anything. I'm just like you, Gilder. There are still so many adventures that I want to take part in. I'm not ready to settle down either, honey."

Gilder took a step back. "What? Is she serious?" he thought to himself. He smirked. "Heh… I guess she really isn't like any other girl I've met."

He wrapped his arm around her and said, "I'll be sure to keep that in mind, then. Now the only problem is the timing. Once this business with Vicente and the NVA is settled, we'll approach the subject once more. How's that?"

She giggled again. She was just too happy for words. It looked as if she was finally going to get her wish. She threw her arms around Gilder's neck and kissed him on the cheek. "You got it."

They looked into each other's eyes for a moment until, out of the corner of their eyes, something caught their attention. They let go of each other and focused their gaze upon what caught their attention.

"Gilder, look," said Clara. She pointed a balcony only two doors down from their own. "It's Vyse and Fina!"

"Huh," said Gilder. "Wonder what they're talking about."

Clara nudged him in the ribs playfully. "I think we have a pretty good idea."

They watched the young couple for a few moments as they talked. At one point, Cupil appeared and turned into a little red heart.

"Aww! That is too cute!" cried Clara.

"Heh, looks like they finally told each other how they felt. It's about darn time," he said.

After a few more words were shared, they witnessed as the two young lovers came together for their first mutual kiss. Seeing this, Clara held on to Gilder more tightly. "How romantic," she whispered. "I'm so happy for them.

Gilder nudged her. "Hey, ya think they've seen us yet?"

Clara looked up and shook her head. "I don't think so. Why?"

He smirked evilly. "Wanna have one last bit of fun before we turn in for the night?"

She looked at him with a puzzled expression on her face. "What are yo-… oh! Hehe… sure!"

They silently counted to three and then yelled at the same time, "Woo-hoo! Way to go guys! All right!" They then broke into a hysterical fit of laughter as the two embarrassed lovers turned to the troublesome duo.

Vyse shook his fist in their direction. "Hey! Would it hurt to give us a little privacy! Yeesh!" The two joined hands and walked back inside with Cupil following close behind. They watched as the door slammed behind the couple.

After a few more chuckles, Clara took a deep breath and says, "We're bad."

Gilder flipped a lock of his hair and said, "'Course we are. Now then, I think it's high time we got cleaned up and went to bed. Got yet another big day comin' up tomorrow."

Clara pushed him lightly and said, "Ladies first!" She giggled and dashed towards the bathroom.

He shook his head and looked back out at the night sky. "Clara… I hope we both make it through this. If we do, I'll marry you without any hesitation on my part." He walked back inside and, before he closed the door, took one last look outside and said, "That's a guarantee."

-

How was it? I think they make a really nice couple. Looks like Gilder is willing, rather, wanting to marry Clara, but now just isn't a good time for that. Hopefully they'll both make it through this next battle together, eh? Stay tuned for chapter 13, and keep sending those reviews!


	13. Into the Dark Rift

A/N: And here we are, at the start of what appears to be the final battle. Traversing the treacherous Dark Rift with the ship they stole from the pirates will be no easy task, let alone fighting inside of it. How will our heroes fare? Will they all make it our alive, or are some or all of our heroes doomed to meet the same fate as Aika?

Again, thanks for all the reviews. On with the story!

-

Chapter 13: Into the Dark Rift

The Blue Rogues walked up the boarding ramp as they witnessed the loading of the final crates of supplies into their "new" ship which they have named "Crusader". It could never compare to the Delphinus in terms of raw power and size, but it did appear to be a fairly agile and speedy craft. If they were going to win this next battle they would have to fully exploit the few strengths of Crusader.

Vyse took all of this into consideration as he sat down in his chair upon reaching the bridge's interior. His thoughts trailed back to the escape ship that Vicente and Jericho's other survivors were using as he analyzed its own strengths and weaknesses. It was a small ship, perhaps even a bit smaller than their own. From what he could remember, there was nothing spectacular about the ship's armaments, but they had only engaged it for a second before it turned tail and ran. Turned tail and ran… that was it. It was an extremely mobile ship whose speed far outclassed that of Crusader's. All in all, it seemed as if the pirates had the advantage.

Vyse smiled. "To an outsider, this would appear to be the case," he mumbled to himself as he reclined back. "However, my crew is at least on par with Vicente's own, if not better. If absolutely nothing else, we've got Fina on our side. All the speed in the world won't help against power such as her own." He immediately realized what he was saying and slapped himself in the face. "What the hell are you talking about Vyse? Using Fina as a weapon? That's wrong and you know it."

He did know it, but he also knew that Fina would be integral to winning the upcoming battle. "Doesn't matter… I can't treat her like she's just some object of war. If I did, I'd be no better than one of those NVA goons. Besides, she hates violence and she already had to destroy the Jericho. I don't want her to resort to it if she doesn't have too. Last thing I want is to see her hurt. She's been through enough as it is. I don't suppose it'd do me any good to tell her to stay down during the fight…"

He glanced over at his newfound lover. She noticed that he was looking his way and smiled lovingly at him. He smiled back and closed his eyes. "No sense in trying. She's dead set in helping me in whatever way possible." He leaned back in his chair once again. "I really am blessed to be with her. Whenever she's near, I feel so much stronger. It's as if all of my fears and doubts just suddenly vanish when she smiles. An earthbound angel…that's exactly what she is. I have got to do everything in my power to ensure that not a single thing happens to her, or I will never forgive myself."

Hans' voice crackled over the slightly archaic communications panel situated next to the captain's chair. "Cap'n, everything is loaded and we're ready to go whenever you are, sir. Mr. Lawrence is on his way up to the bridge. Any further orders?"

Vyse picked up the hand-microphone and clicked something on the side. "Good job Hans. No further orders. Just keep an eye on this hunk-o-junk's engine. No telling what kind of abuse those pirate losers put this thing through in the past."

"Aye, aye!" replied Hans as the communicator went silent.

A moment later, the slightly rusted door leading to the bridge opened and through it came Lawrence. He nodded in Vyse's direction and immediately took his position at the wheel. "Captain Vyse, shall we head out?"

Vyse looked to his friends, awaiting their approval.

Clara winked at him. "Ready as ever, Captain Vyse! Lead the way!"

Gilder nodded. "Let's finish this Vyse. Those murdering bastards need to pay for their crimes.

Fina walked over to Vyse's chair, kneeled down, and took his right hand into both of her own. "I'll always be ready to help you Vyse. Let's do this… for Aika."

Vyse smiled and put his other hand on top of her own. "For Aika. Thank you Fina." He glanced over at his other two friends. "Thank you… all of you." He finally turned to Lawrence, a determined look crossing his face as he did so. "Mr. Lawrence, set a course for the Dark Rift. We're moving out."

-

Clara shivered as Crusader hovered in front of the "entrance" to the Dark Rift. "This place gives me the creeps. I've only been through here once, and I don't remember it being a very pleasant experience. I can't believe that nutcase Vicente would want to hide in there."

Gilder tapped on the table he and Clara were sitting at while they stared out of the observation window. "Ditto. I haven't been through here many more times than you, so I can't say that I'm terribly used to it either."

Vyse shook his head while Fina held his hand tightly. "What's there to get used to, really? This place is about as chaotic as it gets. There is no rhyme or reason to this place." He paused for a moment and closed his eyes. "When… when Aika was still alive, we used to go treasure hunting here fairly often. Each time we came here, we couldn't seem to recognize anything we saw in here the time before. This was all one thing when all we were doing is going on a relatively peaceful treasure hunt. It's going to be completely different trying to fight Vicente and his goons in here. Just…" He lowered his head as he tried to think of something inspirational to say. "Just keep your cool and we'll get out of this alright," was all he could come up with.

Lawrence turned half-way towards Vyse, his right hand nervously tapping the wheel as he did so. "Shall we head in, sir?" It seemed like a stupid question. Lawrence already knew the answer, but he was required to ask anyway. 

Vyse nodded. "Take us in Lawrence. It's now or never. We can't let them get to Yafutoma."

The helmsman nodded and turned back to the observation window. "Aye aye, Captain Vyse." He pushed the lever that controlled the acceleration of their ship slightly forward, giving Crusader just enough power to move forward very slowly. Lawrence lowered his head. "Once more, into the darkness…" he whispered to himself.

Crusader passed through the thin veil of clouds that hid the vortex leading into the Dark Rift and prepared for the turbulent ride through it. Throughout the ship, the Blue Rogues did their best to find relatively stable places to situate themselves as they rode out the vortex. The bridge and all other naturally lighted sections of the ship quickly darkened as the rift quickly robbed the world around them of all forms of light. To compensate for this loss of luminescence, a number of dim, blue emergency lights slowly came to life.

Fina held onto Vyse's hand even more tightly now. "I hate this place Vyse. After we're done, let's leave as soon as possible."

He smiled nervously and rubbed the top of her hand. "You'll get no argument from me, concerning that."

-

The Crusader emerged from the vortex, peeling off the lasts wisps of dark clouds from its hull as it did so. Two searchlights situated on the front of the ship powered up and began to scan the area for any signs of Vicente's elusive ship.

Vyse tapped the arms of his chair. "We have a problem."

Adjusting his sunglasses, Gilder asked, "What is it, other than the fact that we're in the Dark Rift?"

The captain stood up and walked up to the observation window and put his hands behind his back. "These lights. I know we need them, but if all Vicente is doing is hiding, then we're gonna stick out like a sore thumb. On the other hand, this place is simply too dark to go without using them." He turned to his companions. "Any suggestions?"

Nobody said anything for a moment. It was a legitimate problem with no easy answer in sight. What could they do? Either path was very dangerous.

Clara stood up. "Fina, can you do anything?"

She looked over at Clara, a puzzled expression coming across her face as she did so. "What do you mean Clara?"

She slowly paced around the table. "Well, is there anyway to perhaps magically illuminate the Dark Rift? That will solve both problems, for, not only will it give us the light we need, but, if Vicente IS hiding, then we'll be able to see him as well. Is it possible to do that?"

Gilder slapped the table. "I'll be damned. Good idea Clara! Can you do it Fina?"

The young Silvite brought her hands together looked down. "I-it may be possible but… but I think we may be too far away from the Silver Moon's influence for me to gather that much power."

Vyse looked over at Fina, hands still crossed behind his back. "What if we combine our powers together? Between Clara, Gilder, and myself, perhaps we can gather enough silver mana together to give you the rest of the power that you need."

Gilder scratched his head. "Well damn. I seem to be the only one without a good idea today." He laughed and stood up. "I must be losing my edge."

Clara smiled at Fina warmly. "You want to try it, honey?"

The Silvite smiled back. "Y-yes of course." Her body began to glow with a soft, silverfish light as she extended one hand outward, palm-down. "Everyone, please join me."

Gilder, Clara, and Vyse walked towards Fina and slowly extended their hands to meet with hers in the middle of their little formation, their own bodies glowing with a light similar to Fina's, only dimmer. Their mastery over Silver magic could never match that of Fina's, but they had to at least try. As their power grew, an aura of sorts surrounded the Crusader but did little else.

Fina did her best to concentrate all of this energy outside of the ship in order to generate light throughout the Dark Rift, but she was having too much trouble doing so. "I-I can't do it. There's just not enough power between us. I'm sorry everyone."

Vyse squinted his eyes in an attempt to "squeeze" more energy from himself. "It's not your fault Fina. Maybe this was just a bad idea."

Another hand joined their formation. Everyone looked up from their concentration to see Lawrence, his eyes closed as his body glowed with an aura greater than that of everyone except for Fina. "No it isn't. Just keep concentrating."

"Lawrence?" asked Vyse. He received no reply and went back to squinting his eyes.

The silver aura around the ship grew and grew until, a minute later, it exploded into a shockwave of bright light that spread across the entire rift. Although the dark clouds around them stayed the same, the terrain and scenery around them could be seen as clear as day. Their plan had worked.

"It worked! It worked!" exclaimed Clara as she jumped up and down.

Satisfied with the results, Lawrence grinned and returned to the wheel. "Well done Miss Fina. You've given us a far greater tactical advantage now."

Vyse couldn't stop looking at Lawrence. He always knew that Lawrence was a good swordsman, but he never knew that Lawrence had access to any magic at all, let alone such a significant amount of Silver mana. In the year that he had known Lawrence, he had never asked many questions about him. Lawrence didn't like to talk about much other than his job, so Vyse always found it too difficult to ask him simple questions such as, "How old are you?", "Where are you from?" or "Why did you become a mercenary?"

Fina leaned over and whispered in Vyse's ear, "Vyse, I can sense a great amount of Silver mana coming from him, but it's slowly dying back down. I don't understand it. I've never felt any power like that from him ever since we first hired him. It's as if… as if he was hiding it from us all along."

Vyse whispered back, "Yeah, it's kinda weird. You'd think he was a Silvite, considering the power he's exhibiting. He sure doesn't look like one though. I wonder if-"

"Is something wrong, Captain Vyse? Miss Fina?" asked Lawrence casually.

The two lovers pulled apart, looking embarrassed as they did so. "Heh, sorry Lawrence." Vyse rubbed his head sheepishly. "We just, ah, thought that what you did was really impressive. Thanks for the help."

The helmsman nodded and turned back to the window. "Thank you for your kind compliment, captain. I used to dabble in small amounts of Silver magic years ago. I'm glad that it proved to be useful."

Dabble? Yeah right. Vyse, Gilder, and Clara had trained with Silver Moonstones for quite some time now and there was no way that they could compare with Lawrence's abilities. Something seemed fishy about him but Vyse had no time to worry about it now. They had a murderer to catch.

"Sir! Captain Vyse, sir!" Domingo's voice could be heard from the captain's communication panel. "We've got trouble!"

Vyse immediately picked up the microphone-type device and clicked the button on the side. "What's the problem, Domingo?"

There seemed to be a sense of urgency in Domingo's voice as he continued. "Vyse, we've got what appears to be a Valuan scout vessel headed straight towards us! They… they seem to be at ramming speed!"

Vyse looked at everyone in the bridge, puzzled. "Ramming speed? What is that fool trying to do! He'll kill us all!" He clicked his button once more. "Where's he coming from?"

A pause. "…below us. He's coming from straight under us!"

"Lawrence! Evasive action!" yelled Vyse as he put the microphone back down. "Something's not right here. Climbing like that, there's now ay he could get a solid hit on us, at least not one good enough to destroy either ship."

Lawrence turned the wheel hard to port-side, grunting as he did so. "What are they up to? Surely they don't want to die either."

They watched as Vicente's cruiser flew slowly past the observation window, losing great amounts of speed as it continued it straight ascent.  
Observing this, a thought came to Gilder's mind. "Vyse! They're not trying to ram us!"

Vyse quickly turned to him. "What do you mean?"

Gilder threw his arms outward. "I think they're trying to board us!"

"Here they come again!" yelled Lawrence as he tried to turn the wheel again, but it was to no avail. The sides of the two ships clashed into each other and immediately became stuck to one another.

A voice crackled over the communication panel. "Too little, too late Rogues!" Sure enough, it was Vicente, cocky as ever.

Vyse picked up the microphone once again and yelled, "What in the six moons are you doing Vicente? You can't even ram a ship right!"

"That's where you're wrong, Vyse," said Vicente. "I had no intention of killing both of us. I'm not stupid.

Clara plucked the microphone form Vyse and said, "Then what in blue blazes are you doing?"

Vicente chuckled. "Simple, my lovely lady. I readily admit that I won't win in a ship-to-ship fight against you as long as that Silvite witch is on your side. If she can destroy my beloved Jericho, then she'd have a field day against this ship."

Fina looked down at her feet. He was completely right, but didn't like the fact that she could wield such incredible amounts of energy. It frightened her to no end, and everyone knew this.

Vicente continued. "That being said, if I were to board and attack you up close as opposed to from a distance, I have to wonder: just how useful will your little witch be then? If she uses that kind of power at this range, she'll kill everyone. Besides, I already know I can beat you Vyse. I proved it in Jericho's hanger. Tell me Vyse… which hurts more: those gun-shot wounds or your pride? Heh… see you on the deck, Blue Losers." The line of communication between Vicente's ship and the Crusader was immediately cut.

Everyone looked at Vyse, whose head was lowered. "Vyse," started Fina, "please don't listen to him. You can beat him. I know you can. I'll be there to help you."

"As will I," said Gilder as he spun both of his guns. "I'm ready to rock and roll."

"Don't count me out!" said Clara with great determination as she cut an X in the air with her saber. "Those NVA losers are goin' down, and goin' down **_hard_**."

Lawrence turned to his captain and offered his trademark bow. "I believe I speak for all of the Blue Rogues when I say, "You can count on us." Let's finish this." He drew his saber blessed by the red moon and swung it slowly in a wide arc.

Vyse looked through the observation window as he watched the NVA troopers pile onto their own deck. "Thank you everyone. Thank you so much." He turned around and walked toward the door leading from the bridge with everyone following close behind him, drawing his Lunarian Cutlasses as he did so. "This is it guys: do or die time. Let's stop this guy once and for all!"

The initial five Blue Rogues were soon accompanied by the other crew members aboard the Crusader and followed Vyse as they readied their own weapons. Finally, they opened the door leading to the deck of the ship and piled out, forming a line to either side of Vyse as they faced the NVA forces.

Vyse and Vicente stared at each for what seemed like an eternity. This battle would perhaps be the fiercest one that either captain had ever been a part of. Vyse closed his eyes as he gathered his thoughts. "Aika…" he whispered to himself. He opened his eyes and lifted his right cutlass to the sky. "My dear Aika, this one's for you!" He then pointed the same blade at the NVA, preparing to lead the charge of air pirates against them. With a proud and very strong voice, he yelled, "Blue Rogues! Attack!"

-

This is it! The thrilling conclusion of Under the Sky So Blue is upon us! Will the Blue Rogues walk away with a victory on this one? Even if they do, at what cost will it come to them? The final battle is here, so you'd better not change that channel! Er… I mean that URL… or something… coughs Anyway, stay tuned, and keep the kind reviews rolling in! I shall release both the final chapter, ending songfic, and a very short epilogue all at once in the space of 2 chapters, so please look forward to it!


	14. The Fight For Justice

A/N: Here it is folks, the final chapter of Under the Sky So Blue! I hope you've had as much fun reading it as I had writing it. Now that the ships of both Vicente and Vyse are stuck together, there's no other option left other than to fight it out on the deck of the Crusader. Can Vyse and friends pull away with the victory and bring peace back to the world?  
After this story, be sure to immediately go to the next chapter and check out both the ending songfic and epilogue I have written. My ending author note will be at the end of it and not this. Anyway, enjoy the chapter!

-

Chapter 14: The Fight for Justice

The two sides charged at each other, fully intent on destroying each other. No one held back, not even the captains of either side. This was to be a fight to the finish. All of the Blue Rogues knew this, and knew that they must give it all they had if they were going to win. They only took a small crew with them aboard the Crusader, leaving the rest behind to tend to the Delphinus. As such, they were outnumbered nearly three-to-one. In addition to that, Vicente seemed to be more powerful than even Vyse, and, as Vicente had pointed out, Fina wouldn't dare use any powerful magiks in this close proximity. The odds weren't good, but they had to find someway to win.

The captains of either side did not waste any time. They immediately bypassed everyone else and clashed swords with one another. At this point, no one else mattered to them. Both of them had their own agenda. For Vyse, he had a murdered friend to avenge. For Vicente, he had to remove what seemed to be the final obstacle between him and the retaking and rebuilding of the old Valuan Empire.

Vicente smirked as he tried to out-muscle Vyse. "Give up, pirate. You didn't stand a chance against me last time. What makes you think you can beat me this time?"

Vyse grinned back at his foe. "You're not shooting me."

"Ha!" responded Vicente. "You've obviously never seen my skill with a blade before! Allow me to demonstrate!"

-

Fina wanted so much to be able to help her lover defeat Vicente, but she had her own share of troubles for the time being. The situation seemed similar to the one she encountered on Sailor's Island; surrounded by four bad-guys, all of which were closing in on her and trying to pin her against the railing of the Crusader. However, these guys were being far more cautious than the idiots they had encountered on the island. They had obviously seen what Fina was capable of and, although they knew that she wouldn't use such powerful magiks when she was so close to her other friends, they weren't going to take any chances.

One of the NVA troopers said, "Give it up girl! Surrender to us and we'll take _real_ good care of you, heh heh."

Fina took a deep breath. At this range, she couldn't use _any_ of her magic. She'd have to resort to fighting physically against them, which wasn't exactly one of her strong points. Nevertheless, she had to try.

"Cupilrang!" she yelled as Cupil turned into Fina's latest weapon. Once formed, she immediately swung for the trooper on her right, cracking him right on top of his head and sending him to the ground.

The other troopers pulled back a little, obviously surprised by what Fina had just done. She sure didn't look like a fighter, but then again, looks can be deceiving. "Feh! Don't just stand there you idiots! Get her!"

Fina reared back Cupilrang, ready to let it go should one of these buffoons get to close to her. "Don't touch me you filthy scoundrels!

-

A very heavily armored man marched toward Gilder wielding what appeared to be a giant meat cleaver. Obviously, he didn't plan on taking prisoners. A hollow laugh echoed through his helmet as he said, "Ha! Just try to break through this armor!"

Gilder smirked, twirled both of his guns, and let loose three shots from each one. His jaw dropped when he witnessed every single bullet ricochet of the man's armor harmlessly. "What the! That's bull-crap! How can armor even like that stop magnum-grade bullets!"

The same laugh echoed through the man's armor. "It's made of Velorium. The boss gave it to me for stealing a large amount of the material from a merchant ship. Nothing in the world can penetrate this armor! I'm invincible!"

Gilder opened the cylinders of both his guns and began applying a purple moonstone to the remaining bullets. "Is that so?" he said as he went about this chore. He gave both cylinders a spin and popped them back into the gun. "We'll see about that! Eat this!"

He shot six more times, each one connecting with the frontal torso plate of the armor, leaving small formations of ice around each impact. The man looked down at his torso and then back up at Gilder. 

"Eh? What was that all about! That was pretty pointless if you ask me!" Once again, the giant man laughed.

Gilder saw Clara sneaking up behind the man with what appeared to be a large engineer's hammer in her small hands. He grinned. "Oh I don't know about that. By the way, what's that behind you?"

"Eh?" He turned around and could only stare with wide eyes as Clara swung her hammer with all of her might into the man's torso, shattering not only the ice but small pieces of the armor underneath. "What! Impossible!"

Before he could say anything else, Clara took another swing at him. This time, however, she aimed for his head. The impact was enough to give the man a very large headache and lengthy spell of dizziness. Unable to cope with said dizziness, the man allowed himself to fall over, perhaps in an attempt to say, "I've had enough."

Gilder shot the lovely Clara a thumbs-up. "Well done Clara. I can always count on you."

Clara couldn't help but pose with the hammer. "Of course! Don't ever mess with a girl!"

-

To the untrained eye, the fight between Vyse and Vicente still seemed evenly matched. The level of swordplay that was going into this fight was truly magnificent. For each attack that one had, the other had a counter for it. It seemed as if they both had counters for the other's counters. Neither had landed a blow on the other and the fight looked as if it could drag on for days with the same result.

However, to the careful observer, one would notice Vyse was slowly losing the battle. In terms of raw skill, Vicente had the advantage. It was taking every last bit of Vyse's strength just to keep up with this fabulous swordsman, and he was quickly losing all of his stamina. With every minute that passed, he became a split-second slower in both action and reaction time. Vyse needed a plan and he needed it now.

"Damnit!" he said to himself as he deflected yet another of Vicente's furious slash attacks. "At this rate, I'm never going to win. That scumbag hasn't even broken a sweat yet. What should I do?" Another blow was deflected, but this came extremely close to making contact with Vyse.

"I can't call for help. Everyone else is busy with the other pirates." He pondered the thought even further. "Besides, even if I could, it wouldn't be such a good idea. If I can't beat him, then…" Another slash, this one managing to knock a loose button off of his sleeve.

"Aika, I… I don't know if I can win…"

-

Fina swung Cupilrang at another would-be attacker, knocking him to the ground just as easily as the previous two. These fallen troopers all had one thing in common: they underestimated their foe. Two more troopers came to join the last initial trooper that had initially engaged her.

She reared back Cupilrang once more when her eyes shot wide open. "Vyse! He needs my help!" She didn't know how she knew this, but in her heart… she knew. The only problem was figuring out a way to get all of these troopers away from her.

"Enough of this crap!" said the last trooper from the first group. He pointed a gun at her and pulled back the hammer. "Screw this "take the girl alive" crap! Say goodnight, girl!"

Fina closed her eyes. She had no way to defend herself from a bullet.

Suddenly, the man pointing the gun at her howled in pain. Fina opened her eyes to see the man twitching on the ground. The air smelt of burnt organic matter, like an animal that had just been hit by lightning. Behind the fallen man and the other two, Fina could see Lawrence, one hand extended and steaming, the other clutching his fire-red saber on his side.

"Mr. Lawrence!" cried Fina. "You-"

Lawrence drew his saber and waved it back and forth between the two remaining men. "Miss Fina, there's no time! You have to help the captain! I'll hold these barbarians off!"

Fina nodded and ran off. "Thank you Mr. Lawrence!"

"Ahem!" Lawrence said in an attempt to call attention to himself. The two men left standing turned back to him. Watching him as his smile grew. "Gentlemen, if you thought she was tough, wait til you get a load of me."

-

Vyse hit the deck of the Crusader, holding a large cut he had just suffered to his left bicep. "Gah! Damn you Vicente!"

Vicente smirked and tossed his gunblade from side-to-side as he took in the scene. Before him stood Vyse, the now defeated captain of all the Blue Rogues in the world. With him out of the way, there would nobody left that could stand in the way of the NVA… except for that meddlesome Silvite girl. She mattered little though. Without Vyse's protection, she'll be easy pickings.

He pointed his blade down at the seemingly defeated Vyse. "My, how the mighty have fallen. Any last words before you join your little friend?"

"Aika…" he said to himself as he lowered his head. "In the end, I just couldn't win. He's far too powerful. Please forgive me."

Vicente titled his head. "Eh? Last prayers? Well, whatever. You've had your chance to speak. Now it's time for you t-gah!"

Vyse opened eyes to see a large burn mark on Vicente's side. He looked directly to his left to see Fina standing there, her right hand extended and steaming. "Fina!"

"Leave him alone you big jerk!" she cried. She threw Cupilrang with all her might at Vicente.

With one swift movement, Vicente used his own blade to knock Cupilrang away. "Insolent wench!" He pointed his weapon at Fina. "Join your friend in the abyss you little bitch!"

The entire world moved in slow-motion once again. However, Vyse could do nothing as he saw Vicente pull the trigger of his weapon. His eyes widened in horror when he saw the bullet go right through Fina's upper section, letting loose a spray of blood both in front of and behind her. Without a sound, she fell to the deck and into a very small pool of her own blood.

_"I'm going to do whatever it takes to help you Vyse."_

Vyse could not control the flow of tears as he dropped his weapon and pounded the deck with his fists. "Fina! No! I-I told you not to come"  
He let his own head hit the deck as he closed his eyes. "Fina, you were… I was… me and you…" He looked over at her body which lay roughly twenty feet away from him. "…I'm so sorry Fina. As much as I loved you, I couldn't even protect you when it really mattered. I have failed not only as a captain, but as… as the one you trusted most."

_"I'll always be at your side Vyse."_

Vicente lowered his weapon and smirked. "Heh. She wasn't so tough without her magic. Now where was I… ah yes! You!" He pointed his weapon at Vyse. "I believe it's your turn!"

_"I love you Vyse…"_

"…kill…kill…" The idea kept running through Vyse's head. He reopened his eyes and, if any of his friends had seen him like this, they would not have recognized him. This was not the cool and calm-eyed Vyse that they knew. To them, he would've looked like some rabid beast intent on killing as many people as possible.

_"…with all my heart and soul."_

He pointed his Lunarian Cutlass at the opposing captain. "**_YOU! YOU TOOK EVERYTHING FROM ME! EVERYTHING! I'LL… I'LL KILL YOU!_**"

The surprise Vicente felt that was brought about by Vyse's new tone of voice was only surpassed by the amazing speed that Vyse now possessed. Before he could make any sort of movement with his weapon, Vyse cut it in half, leaving only the gun handle and cylinder in Vicente's hand.

Vicente took several steps back as he tried to avoid this new assault. "Impossible! How can he break Velorium!"

He didn't have long to ponder this, for, not longer after his weapon broke, Vyse managed to get a good cut on both of Vicente's thighs, sending him stumbling everywhere and leaving blood in his wake. Vyse's next attack drove his cutlass deep into Vicente's left shoulder, causing to howl in pain. Finally, with his remaining cutlass, gave Vicente a shallow, yet still very painful slice across his abdomen. Vicente fell on his back and Vyse immediately jumped on him, pinning him to the ground.

This was it. Now he had won, but at what cost? All he had to do now was kill Vicente and the day would be theirs. He pulled his other cutlass from his foe's shoulder and raised both blades up high. "**_AND NOW VICENTE, YOU WILL PAY FOR YOUR CRIMES!_**"

_"Vyse, please! Whatever you do, don't lose yourself!"_

Vyse grabbed his head. "No, leave me alone! This man deserves to die!"

_"Vyse, I beg you! I don't want you to change for the worse!"_

Vyse began to cry again. "Fina, I… I don't know what to do! There's no point in keeping myself the same if I'm going to live in a world without you!"

_"Vyse! Please!"_

"Fina…"

_"Vyse…"_

"Vyse! Vyse!" Vyse turned around to see Gilder and Clara kneeling around Fina's body. "She's okay! Fina's okay!" cried Clara.

Vyse's tears of sadness immediately turned to tears of joy. "Fina!" he tossed both of his blades aside and ran to his friends.

Vicente attempted to take this opportunity to get up and re-arm himself but was immediately pinned back down by a red saber. "And where do you think you're going?" asked Lawrence.

Vyse kneeled down next to Fina who smiled weakly up at him. "S-sorry to worry you Vyse."

Gilder patted Vyse's shoulder. "Bullet just hit her in the shoulder. Clean hit too, bullet went right through. A bandage and a Sacri spell or two should fix her up."

Vyse immediately leaned down and hugged the slightly bloody Fina. "Thank the moons! I thought you were dead Fina!"

She hugged back with her good arm. "I'm sorry Vyse. Something told me that I had to help you and… well…"

Clara's hands glowed green as she began to slowly apply a Sacri spell to Fina's shoulders. "Fina honey, if it wasn't for you, Vyse and perhaps the rest of us might have been killed. That was very brave of you."

Gilder held the hand of her bad arm gently. "Well done Fina. That's twice you've saved us."

Unable to hold back his affection any longer, Vyse leaned down and kissed Fina on the lips. "I love you Fina. I can't even begin to express how happy I am to see that you're okay."

A small tear ran down her soft cheek. "Oh Vyse…"

"Pardon me for interrupting, Captain Vyse," started Lawrence, "but what should we do with the enemy captain?"

Vyse closed his eyes and began to think to himself. "Okay, everyone knows he deserves to die. However, I've got to keep a cool head about this. Besides, death may be too good for him. What to do, what to d-… ah!"

Vyse stood up and looked around at everyone. "I've got an idea."

-

A bandaged and more or less healed Vicente hit the hard surface of one of the many islands within the Dark Rift. Not far above him, the Blue Rogues looked down upon him from the safety of the Crusader.

Vyse put on foot on the railing and smirked down at Vicente. "For the crimes you've committed Vicente, death would be far too good for you. So instead, the Blue Rogues sentence you to life-time imprisonment in the Dark Rift. Since we're nice guys, we'll even give you a means to survive… or kill yourself, whichever you want to do." With that he tossed down a very old and rusty cutlass along with a lantern with a single moonstone in it.

Vicente watched the objects hit his island and he looked up at them. "You can't be serious."

Gilder leaned against the railing now. "Oh but we are. I was wanting to put a bullet in your head, but I like this idea far more."

It was Clara's turn now. "Hope that lantern keeps burning for you honey! Wouldn't want any of the light-hating monsters within the rift to eat you now, would we?"

Vicente threw his arms up in utter frustration. "You can't do this too me!"

"But we have, Mr. Vicente," said Fina in her usual soft-toned voice. "Now you'll never be able to hurt anyone again."

Vyse walked away from the railing as did everyone else. "So long Vicente! May your stay here be long and arduous!"

The Crusader pulled away from the island and flew away, ignoring any cries for help coming from Vicente.

Vyse plopped down in his chair, finally glad that this was all over. Fina pulled a chair from the table and pulled it up next to Vyse. She sat down and held Vyse's hand, who grasped hers firmly back. At the table, Gilder and Clara smiled at the young couple as they held hands themselves.

Lawrence turned back to the two lovers and asked, "Where to now?"

They looked at each other, smiled, and nodded. "Home," they both said at the same time.

-


	15. Ending and Epilogue

Yeah, this used to be a songfic, but the siteis waggingits fingers at such things, so... I had to modify this. Sorry. 

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"Vyse, are you ok?" asked Fina. "You look upset."

Vyse turned to her and smiled. "Nah, it's nothing Fina. Just thinking."

Fina smiled back and returned to what she was doing.

He was only partially lying. He was thinking, but there was something wrong: he couldn't stop thinking about Aika.

Vyse emerged from a door leading into the Crusader and began to pace around on the deck. A million thoughts swam through his head as he did so. "Did I do the right thing? Was this the right way for me to honor Aika's memory? In the rift, it just didn't matter to what happened to me in my mind. The only thing I could think of avenging Aika's and what I thought was Fina's deaths. I don't think she would've wanted me to attack so recklessly, but…"

He gazed into the late afternoon sun, which was just now showing signs of setting. The battle within the rift had been long and arduous, leaving Vyse and company extremely tired. He walked back to the door and took one last look at the sun. "Aika, I'm sure you think what I did was foolish but… I only did it because I cared so much for you. I hope you understand." He went through the door and closed it slowly behind him.

Vyse stopped dead in his tracks once he was halfway up the stairs. "No. Right or wrong, Aika wouldn't want me to dwell on this, not even for a minute. If the same thing happened to her, she would find some way to move on and live her life." He paused for a moment and began climbing once again. "I guess I'll just have to do the same thing."

"There's still so much left to do in this big world of ours. If I let the past overcome me, then I'll never be able to enjoy the rest of my life. Heck, I'm only eighteen years old now! I've still got quite a life ahead of me!" He smiled before he opened the door leading back into the bridge. "I know what I'm going to do. I'm going to pay my last respects to Aika and do my best to carry on. Maybe a last goodbye is all I need."

He walked into the bridge to see hat nearly everyone was looking down. Deciding to take in his own advice, he threw his arms and happily asked, "Hey, hey, why's everybody so down for? We won, didn't we?"

Clara turned to him, a single tear running down her cheek. "Ah, I'm sorry Vyse. I was just thinking of Aika."

Gilder nodded. "Same here. It's just not gonna be the same around here without that fiery redhead."

Vyse put his hands on his sides and grinned. "I know what you mean, but you know…"

"…we have to find a way to move on. I think Aika would want that, don't you?"

Fina stood up and nodded. "Y-yes. She would never want us to be sad."

"Exactly," said Vyse. "So, once we get back to Crescent Island, we're going to throw a huge party, not only to celebrate our great victory, but to honor the memory of Aika! We can say our final goodbyes and move on from there."

Gilder grinned. "Heh. Well said Vyse. If nothing else, I'm always up for a good party." 

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Vyse and Fina stood alone at Aika's grave while all of the other Blue Rogues ate and made merry behind them. Truly, there was no better way to honor the memory of such a vibrant and positive young lady such as Aika. Fina leaned down to lay a bouquet of flowers at the bottom of Aika's headstone. After kissing the stone, she stood back up and returned to Vyse's side.

"Farewell Aika," she said. "I'll never forget you. You'll always live on in my heart."

Vyse came next. He kneeled down in front of the grave and ran his hand along the smooth, marble surface of Aika's headstone. "Aika… I don't know where to begin, but I'll try my best to talk to you."

"When I first found out that you had passed away, I didn't know what to think." He paused for a moment as Fina kneeled back down next to him. "An incredible amount of sadness and anger had clouded my heart and I wasn't sure what I was going to do about it. I eventually came to the conclusion that your death had to be avenged. Not only did we accomplish this, but we also perhaps saved the world once again from the Valuans."

Vyse gently held one of Fina's hands with his own. "I'm not sure how I would've fared had Fina not been at my side. She saved me, not only from an almost certain death, but from my own darkness. Were it not for her, I might've truly lost myself in my quest to avenge you. Recently I, uh, heh…" He scratched his head sheepishly with his free hand. "I… we confessed our feelings for each other. I hope you approve of us being together and will grant us your blessings from heaven."

"So anyway, I just wanted to say my last goodbyes to you. Don't take this the wrong way, but I have to put this part of my life behind me. If I don't, I may dwell on my past forever. I want to live out the rest of my life, not just for myself or Fina… but for you as well. There's such a big world out there and much of it still remains to be seen by us." Breaking away from Fina momentarily, he leaned over and hugged the headstone, a lone tear running down his face as he did so.

He stood back up with Fina and the two stood silently as they stared at the headstone. After a few minutes, they finally turned away and began to walk towards the party. Vyse took one last look back to say, "Goodbye Aika. The Blue Rogues will never forget you. Please watch over us in the days to come. We all love you so very much." He turned back around and walked with Fina once again.

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_

Around midnight, Vyse and Fina made their way to the very tip of the island while holding hands all the while. They stood silently as they gazed at the beautiful light projected by the Red Moon. It felt so good to finally be able to relax, given the events of the past week. It had been hard on everyone and they were all just glad it was over. Now, with nothing looming over the horizon to ruin their time together, Vyse and Fina could finally have some time to appreciate each other's love and company.

Vyse turned to Fina and wrapped his arms around her hips. "Fina?"

Fina turned to him and smiled, wrapping her arms around his neck. "Yes Vyse?"

"I love you," he said both plainly and meaningfully.

"I love you too Vyse. I'll always love you until the day I die and beyond," she said.

As the moon passed beyond their vantage point on the tip of the island, the lovers' lips met in a kiss that they would never forget.

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Epilogue

Vicente sat on his island, lost in thought as he chewed on a piece of very nasty tasting Rift Trout. Given the equipment that he had, it was the only thing he could catch other than pieces of sky moss that happened to float by from time to time. It had been nearly a week since he had been trapped within the rift and he thought as if his nightmare would never end.

"Hmph," he said, grunting to himself. "If I ever get out of here, I'm gonna-"

"You're going to what, Vicente?" came a voice from seemingly everywhere around Vicente.

The Valuan stood up and looked all around. "Who's there! Show yourself!"

From behind him appeared four Silvite men, all wearing white clothes but looking nothing alike otherwise. One was short and fat with very short black hair. Another was tall and lanky with long, blond hair. Yet another was very muscular and powerful looking with spiked white hair. The last one was of an average build with shoulder length silver hair. Vicente turned around and immediately knew who they were.

"The Harbingers of Disaster," he said. "Huh. What brings you to my "humble abode"?

The tall one spoke first. "Vyse still lives, does he not?"

Vicente grunted. "That's right. I didn't expect that Silvite girl with him to be so powerful."

The short one came next. "We don't need any of your excuses Vicente. If you wouldn't have gotten so lost in the moment and cut the dramatics, you could've killed the girl in the hanger of Dangrel Island. Then, the boy would've been no problem, right?"

Vicente threw his piece of meat aside, obviously irritated with these Silvites. "Give me a break. I still got one of them: that annoying little red-headed girl."

The bulk one stepped forward and glared at Vicente. "And by doing this, you have only strengthened the resolve of Vyse and his Blue Rogues. Not only that, there is no an unbreakable spiritual bond between Vyse and the Silvite girl. So tell us Vicente… just what have you accomplished?"

Vicente froze. He was dead meat and he knew it. "I-I…give me one more chance! I'll take care of those Blue Rogues once and for all!"

Finally, the one with an average build spoke. "Hmm, I don't know Vicente. I'll tell you what. If we ever need you again, we'll come calling. How does that sound?"

Vicente nodded. "Heh, sure, of course. Can you please get me out of here?"

The Silvite shook his head and smiled. "Sorry, no. I think it's best that you stay here for a while. Think of it as "timeout". Maybe now you'll have time to contemplate just why you are so incompetent. Farewell Valuan." With that, the four Silvites vanished.

Vicente fell to his knees, now completely devoid of hope. "No, I… I don't want to be here any more! No! No! No!" He threw his arms toward the sky and screamed at the top of his lungs, "**_NOOOO!_**" Sadly for him, in the Dark Rift, no one was there to hear his screams.

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And that's that! Under the Sky So Blue may be over, but the Silver and Blue Saga has only just begun! I'm going to take a short break from writing SoA fanfiction and take some time to make plans for Book 2 of Silver and Blue and some other fanfics I wanted to write. Since I know that all you want to see a sequel, I would lie for all of you to take the time to read my profile. In it are several ideas for stories that I want to write, including a short one for Lawrence of SoA that I had planned. Anyway, in your review, if you would like to see me begin work on any of these other stories, please let me know in your review. Finally, I hope that you all enjoyed the first book of Silver and Blue, and I look forward to making the rest of what I hope is someday the greatest SoA saga ever written.


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